Once Upon A Dream
by buttercup1987
Summary: "I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream." After the death of her parents, for her own protection she was raised by muggles in London's foster care system. Aurora had no idea the Wizarding World existed until she received her Hogwarts letter on her 11th birthday. Will she find a home at Hogwarts? And how will she react when she learns that some of her family is still alive?
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: **_I do not own any characters from J.K Rowling's magical story,just my OC's. _

They say that by age 7, children often forget the memories they created before that magic number. I can't tell you when I took my first steps, the first food I ate, or what the first words to leave my mouth were. What I can tell you, however, is everything that happened on that fateful night to my memory. The night I'm referring to of course, is the night the Dark Lord was defeated by none other than a baby boy, named Harry Potter. The night of October 31, 1981, commonly known as Halloween, though what many people don't know is that it was also the night of my 3rd birthday.

I know for certain it was that exact day, because the most vivid memory I have was a happy moment shared with my parent's, blowing out the candle on my birthday cake shaped like a Jack-O-Lantern. Everything after that point is less clear, like a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces. I had to wait 8 years before I was able to fill in the blanks.

I remember my parents voices, though their faces remained blurry in my mind's eye until I was given a photograph of them my first year at Hogwarts, the first missing piece of the puzzle. I remember them singing happy birthday, and later tucking me into bed. I remember loud voices, and waking up to my mother hiding me in a closet.

I can remember crying, as I heard a loud bang coming from somewhere else in the house, my mother shushing me and kissing me hard on the cheeks before shutting the closet door and frantically uttering strange words I cannot remember. I held tightly onto the plush black cat I'd received as my birthday gift that night, is named it Mr. Snuffles and I can remember my parents sharing a laugh at my announcement. It is also the only item in my possession left from a life I missed out on.

There was shouting, and I covered my small ears, then there was silence. I can't recall how long I stayed in that closet in the dark clinging to Mr. Snuffles, but I can distinctly recall the feeling of fear coursing through me. To this day I remain terrified of being stuck in small dark spaces. When the door was finally opened, I called for my Mummy and Daddy, but they did not answer. I remember a sad looking man picking me up and holding me close, cradling me in his arms, I can remember a loud _POP _and the next thing I knew I was in a different place.

I can't recall the faces of the people in the room, the faces of those who spoke in hushed voices, but I can distinctly remember the smell of old wool and lemon. It was warm and cozy, and I felt safe as I drifted of to sleep in the sad man's arms.

That is where the memory ends. The next several years are fuzzy to me, I was never in one place long enough to make any memories worth retaining. I knew nothing of my parents nor the magical world I came from. I didn't know why strange things seemed to keep happening around me whenever I felt big emotions, I wouldn't know anything until my 11th birthday.

As a child, I was put into London's foster care system. The first significant person in my life, that I can truly remember was my case worker named Linda. Linda was in her mid-forties at the time, her hair was always worn in a sleek bun, she wore the same brown loafers every time I saw her and all her skirts were made of tweed, oh, and she always smelled of peppermint. Linda's prerogative was to find a solution to every problem, and me? I was her number one problem to fix, she had made it her life's mission to find me a forever home.

It wasn't easy for her, as soon as I started to display some of my "unique abilities", the families would freak out and send me back. I was frustrated, and didn't understand why no one wanted me, as if there was something wrong with me, but I didn't know what it was. At school, children made fun of me, calling me a _freak _or _psycho_. There was a rumour going around that I was a witch, since my birthday was on Halloween and I carried around a stuffed black cat everywhere I went. They were right of course, and I can laugh about that rumour now, but back then my classmates stayed away from me, and it sucked.

I was alone, just me and Mr. Snuffles. By the time I was 8, I'd been through seventeen different homes. _Seventeen _families who didn't want me. I think the longest I went in one place was three months, the shortest? Two whole days.

I could tell it was taking a toll on Linda, who seemed to sprout more grey hair each time she picked me up to bring me back to the children's centre, a nicer way of saying orphanage. She was always kind to me, taking me out for tea and pudding after each rejection. It was the eighteenth home, that would be my last, and other than a few follow up visits, I never saw Linda again.

She struck gold literally, when she placed me with the Goldman's. A couple in their early-50's, named Maxwell and Valerie, were happy to take me in. They never had children of their own, and for some reason were never deterred by my "special talents". Later, I would learn that though they were muggles, they knew of the wizarding world I belonged to. Valerie's older brother was a wizard, the only one in her family, so they knew enough to have their suspicions when I first displayed my abilities.

They were kind people, who treated me like I was their own daughter. Valerie cooked me all my favourite foods, they took me to the cinemaevery Saturday, and trick-or-treating on my birthday each year; I finally had a sense of what it was to be a family. They decided to homeschool me, in order to spend as much time with me as possible. In doing so they were able to teach me how to manage my emotions better, which in turn helped to keep my abilities at bay.

I loved the Goldman's, but I always felt there was something missing. In my dreams, I could see my parents, my father had dark hair while my mother's was light. I could never see their faces though, nor did I know their names, but I remembered the sounds of their voices clear as day. My father's booming laugh, and the softness of my mother's singing as she tucked me into bed. They were the mystery I could not solve.

On my 11th birthday, Halloween morning, I was helping Val with the decorations when a curious letter arrived with the mail. This letter contained information that confirmed their suspicions. I _was _a witch, and I had been accepted into a magical school to hone my skills. I was understandably confused, and my foster parents sat me down and explained to me the little they knew of the world I truly belonged to. Valerie telling me of her brother whom I had not met, as he became one of the many victim of the wizarding war in the attacks against muggle-borns.

It wouldn't be long before I learned where I came from, finally filling the blank spaces of the jigsaw puzzle of who I was, as I collected the missing pieces along the way.

My name is Aurora Estelle _Black_, and this is my story.

**A/N: **_To those of you have been following my LOTR story "Like a River Runs" do not worry I am still fully committed to that story, and have several chapters finished that i am currently editing__. Thanks to Netflix, my HP obsession is back in full swing, and I just finished re-reading the first two books in three days, absolutely no shame. I had to start this one too or else my head would burst! Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy this fanfic! I plan to update each of my stories at least once per week._

_Until next time._

_-Buttercup_


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: **_I only own my OC's, anything you recognize from the world of Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling._

Disbelief is what I felt, re-reading the letter over and over until the words finally sank in. I, Aurora Black, was a witch. Those school kids would have a field day if they learned the rumours had been true all along. It explained so much about why I could do the things I could, yet at the same time left me with more questions than I had answers for. What happened to my family? And why didn't I end up with a magical family? Did wizards not believe in adoption? Not that I didn't love the Goldman's, it was just, a lot of questions ran through my mind that day.

Valerie had told me that they had wondered about it for years, but did not want to say anything to me on speculation alone. She had explained to me how she knew only bits and pieces of what her brother had told her over the years. His name was Brandon, and he had attended Hogwarts, he was the only wizard in their family that they knew of. She also told me how she had been fraught with jealousy when her letter never came. He had married a witch he met while working for the Ministry of Magic, the wizard government as Max had put it.

"He was a wonderful man." She reflected, "He died 15 years ago when…"

Her voice became laced with tears, and unable to continue, Max held his arm around his wife as she hid her head in her hands and he finished speaking for her.

"There was a war… it went on for a long time. A bad wizard and his followers… well, they didn't like wizards born to non-magical folk, wanted to '_keep the blood pure' _is how he put it..." He sighed running a hand through his salt and pepper hair. "Brandon didn't get the chance to explain much to us… just told us he was in danger and him and his wife were going to leave the country… but… they never made it out. It's… not an easy subject for Val… as you can imagine."

I sat there, unsure of what to say next, and I felt scared. "Is… the bad wizard still around? I don't know if I want to go to Hogwarts…"

"We know as much as you do Aurora." Max said, "But there's bad folk in the magical world and non-magical world alike, living a life in fear is no life at all, remember that sweet girl."

I felt a little better after his words, he was right after all. There was good and bad everywhere you went.

"Do you think… my parents were killed by the bad wizard?" I asked as I recalled the bangs, the strange words uttered by my mother, the shouting, the crying and the hours spent in a dark closet.

"We don't know dear... but, it is safe to assume so." Valerie said getting up to wrap me in a hug. "Perhaps, someone at that school will have some answers for you, and you can get some closure."

The year passed by quickly, and we had all but forgotten about the conversation of dark and evil wizards, but, we had not forgotten the news that I was magical, and soon enough, the summer of 1990 was upon us. An owl arrived at the house in the middle of July; perching itself on the ledge of the kitchen window, it frantically pecked at the glassas if it were a woodpecker. Valerie, seeming completely unfazed, opened the window allowing the brown barn owl entry. In its small beak it carried two envelopes, one was addressed to me, and the other to 'The Goldman's'.

"What a strange way to deliver mail." I mused, scanning the envelope that had my name and address written out in elegant calligraphy.

"I thought so the first time to." Valerie said, chuckling at the memory. "Gave us quite the fright when a big fluffy grey owl came barreling through the window with a letter from Brandon… we got used to it though. Surely it will be your supply list and your train ticket, go on open it then!"

I watched Valerie open the letter with their name on it, her eyes scanned over the parchment, brows furrowed she quickly folded the letter and put it in her pocket.

"What did it say Valerie?" I asked, curious.

"Never mind what it says, I want to know what _yours _says!" She sounded excited, but her body language said something else. I could tell there was something she read in that letter that bothered her.

Dropping it for now, I gently tore open the envelope, and unfolded the parchment inside. I read the letter out loud as my eyes scanned over the words.

"_Dear Miss. Black,_

_Please note that the school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross Station, platform nine and three-quarters… _Nine and three-quarters?... _at Eleven o'clock. Please find enclosed a list off all necessary books and equipment. _

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress"_

Carefully I opened the enclosed list mentioned in the letter, which also included my train ticket. I thought it odd that wizards would travel in such a seemingly normal way, you would think they'd travel by broom or something else _magical_.

Valerie seemed to sense what I was thinking as she watched me reading the ticket.

"Brandon always said one of the things he most looked forward to was riding the train to school each year. I think you will find it to be just the same."

I smiled, feeling a little more excited I started to read the list of supplies I was required to bring.

"...Three sets of plain black work robes…. _A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot…_ _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade One… _one wand, one cauldron… may also bring one owl, or a cat or a toad?!" I skimmed through the list, excited at the prospect of getting to bring a pet. "Though… I don't think I'll be wanting a toad."

Valerie and I laughed together as Max walked into the kitchen. "What's this I hear about a toad?" He asked and I showed him the letter.

We were excited for a short moment, until my face suddenly dropped.

"What's wrong Aurora?" Max asked me, sounding concerned.

"It's just… this is a lot of stuff, where do we even find these things? And how are we going to pay for it all?" I frantically rambled. Was there some sort of Wizard shopping mall I didn't know about? How expensive would it all be? I couldn't ask Valerie and Max to spend their savings on a bunch of equipment just to send me to magic school.

Valerie sighed and hesitantly she handed me the letter that was in her pocket. "I don't think you

have to worry about that dear."

I raised my eyebrow and began to read the piece of parchment. In somewhat messy scrawl, it read:

'_Dear Mr. and Mrs. Goldman,_

_I write to you in regards of Miss Aurora Black. Firstly, I would like to thank you for taking care of her all these years, I am forever grateful she came into your care. I was a good friend of her parents, and there are some things she should know before beginning her first year at Hogwarts. Important things, regarding her family history and her father's whereabouts. _

_If you will allow it, I would be more than pleased to escort her to Diagon Alley to purchase her school supplies. Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, has given me the key to her family vault at Gringotts bank, there is more than enough left for her to cover the cost of her supplies. He has trusted me to do this task, I am certain Aurora will have a lot of questions, and I am much obliged to answer them all._

_If you could please reply to this letter by 31 July, I will meet with you at Charing Cross Road in London's West End, just outside Myrtle's Antique Bookshop on 25 August at 10 o'clock in the morning. _

_Kind regards,_

_Remus J. Lupin_

_P.S. the owl is a stubborn fellow, he won't leave unless you give him a saltine.'_

"My father's whereabouts?" I questioned. Looking up from the letter, I held back angry tears. "Does that mean that he's _alive?!_"

They held onto me tightly as I broke down at the news, hot tears streaming down my cheeks. I felt angry, did my father not want me? Where _was _he? All these years I thought…

Suddenly the burners on the gas stove behind us turned on, and bright orange flames that matched my anger danced on the stovetop.

"I'm sure there's an explanation." Max explained, stroking my hair to calm me down, and the flames behind us diminished as I took a deep breath. "It seems that this Mr. Lupin can tell you what you need to know, that is _if _you wish to meet with him."

Wiping away my tears, I pulled away from their embrace and nodded. There were some things I needed to know, and it would be nice to learn a bit more about the magical world before I attended school in September.

"I'll write him back then." Valerie said, grabbing a pen and paper she scribbled down a reply and handed it to the owl. The owl did not move, his amber eyes unblinking. "Oh for god sakes! Max bring me some bloody saltines."

The owl nibbled at the saltine, putting the leftovers into a small pouch attached to its leg. He let out a loud squawk, picked up the letter with his beak and flew out the open window. It seemed to me things were going to get stranger from there on out.

I woke up on August 25 with an anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach. Though I longed for answers to the questions I'd had for most of my life, part of me was frightened of what those answers might be. Maybe ignorance was bliss, and I was about to demolish it like a steel wrecking ball crashing into an old brick building.

I could barely eat my breakfast that morning, my stomach was so full of nerves. Staring down at the plate I pushed my eggs around with my fork. After taking a couple more bites of food, I excused myself from the table, taking my plate into the kitchen and dumping the leftovers, before I headed upstairs to my bedroom.

It was a warmer day, so I opted for a fitted black and white striped t-shirt, and a denim overall dress that ended just above my knees. I grabbed a light grey jumper from my dresser and tied it around my waist, just in case it cooled down later. Then I began to brush the knots out of my thick shoulder length hair which wasn't cooperating. Glaring at the dark tresses in the mirror, I gave up and threw it into a messy top knot, securing it with a purple scrunchie.

I grabbed my old brown crossbody book bag which I found in the back of my closet. I would need to keep my money in something, and I didn't own a purse, so this was the next best thing. Throwing it over my shoulder I headed back downstairs, glancing at the clock on the way it read _9:22._

Max and Valerie were all ready and waiting for me by the front door. I shoved my feet into a pair of white tennis shoes and off we went.

The car ride through London was mostly silent, and I stared out the car window, people watching as we slowly weaved through the traffic. I wondered to myself, if and how many of these people going about their day were witches and wizards?

We made it to the small shopping village located at Charing Cross Road just before 10:00, and Max pulled the car into the first available spot. Two minutes later we found ourselves in front of the antique bookshop Mr. Lupin had mentioned in his letter. Other than the small crowds of people wandering the square, there was no one to be seen. Suddenly a man appeared, seemingly out of nowhere at exactly 10:00.

He wore strange clothing that was slightly tattered, and his hair was somewhat disheveled though it looked like he had tried to tame it. Turning around he spotted the three of us and made his way over, as he got closer I noticed he had several pink scars across his face, almost like scratch marks. Once my dark eyes landed on his lighter ones, I had a sudden feeling of recognition and a flood of memories played out in my mind like a montage in an 80's film.

_Goodnight kisses. Loud voices. Crack. Frantic whispering. Door shut. Darkness. Bang. Screaming. Silence. Darkness. Light. A sad man's eyes. Comfort. The smell of wool and lemon. Sleep. _

...a sad man's eyes. This was him, the sad man who saved me from that closet on halloween night so many years ago. Suddenly, the anxiety that had been building up all morning slipped away and I felt content.

He stepped forward and introduced himself to Max and Valerie.

"Remus Lupin." He said nervously, shaking their hands respectively, and they introduced themselves in turn. Turning to me, a sad, longing look crossed Mr. Lupin's face and he said, "You must be Aurora."

I stepped forward and extended my hand, "It's nice to meet you Mr. Lupin." I said shaking his hand.

"Likewise… though please, call me Remus." I could tell he was studying my appearance and I wondered who I reminded him more of, my mother or my father.

He turned to my foster parents, "Will you be joining us in Diagon Alley today?" He asked them.

Max and Valerie looked at each other, then at me, and Max said, "That depends… would you like us to join you Aurora?" He gave me a knowing look that only I could decipher.

We had discussed it the previous day, whether or not they would join me. They weren't 100% keen on the idea of leaving me with a complete stranger, but they understood we would be discussing personal matters and if I wanted privacy they would respect that. Ultimately we decided that we would feel it out when we met him, and that I had the final say.

When I looked at Remus I just saw the face of the sad man who carried me to safety back when I was a young girl. I felt safe then, and I felt safe now. I turned to the two concerned adults in charge of my care and smiling at them I said, "I think I'll be fine."

They nodded at me, saying they would do some shopping of their own on "the muggle side of town" as they put it; and Remus told them we would meet them in the same spot at 4:00. Turning to me Remus asked, "Are you hungry?"

My stomach rumbled on cue, as if it remembered I had neglected to feed it that morning. I nodded and he said, "Me to. We can talk over some food and a cuppa, then we'll head into Diagon Alley."

He grinned at me, and I followed him towards what appeared to be a dingy old pub that had seen better days. The sign outside the door read '_The Leaky Cauldron'_. I followed him in and got my first real taste of the wizarding world.

**A/N: **_Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The main plot of this story will begin in Prisoner of Azkaban in a couple more chapters. Aurora is starting Hogwarts in September 1990, a year before The Golden Trio/a year after the Weasley twins. (Her birthday is October 31, 1978, making her about 7 months younger than our favorite prankster duo) _

_My inspo for Aurora is Lily Collins _

_*fun fact: Valerie and Max Goldman are named in a reference to one of my favorite movies and stories, "The Princess Bride." Can you guess who I'm referencing? _

_Until next time,_

_-Buttercup _


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **_I do not own anything belonging to the Harry Potter series, I only own my OC._

It was dark inside the pub, and had quite a shabby appearance, not that I had much else to compare it to in the business of pubs, I _was_ only 11 afterall. There were a few people, real live wizarding-world people, already inside; some sat at the tables while a couple of folks sat at the bar. Remus nodded at the man tending bar, and I followed him towards a more secluded area, of the building. The oak table looked like it had seen better days, but the cushy red chairs were very comfortable I noted.

"Hello Tom." Remus said, as the man from the bar approached us with a menu. "We'll start with a pot of tea please."

My eyes widened as a porcelain teapot and two cups appeared with a pop on the table before us, some sugar cubes and a milk saucer following it. "_Wow! I can't wait to learn to do that!" _I thought. We thanked Tom, and decided we would both have the Steak and Kidney pie.

Several seconds later, our pies arrived in the same fashion, and I watched as Remus handed the barkeep some strange looking money, and made a mental note to ask him about wizard currency later. We hadn't done much talking yet, and ate in silence, neither of us really sure just how to break the ice. I swallowed my last piece of pie, and took a sip of tea, deciding that I would bite-the-bullet so to speak, and I wondered what the wizard term for that would be, bite-the-wand didn't have a nice ring to it. Mental note: Ask Remus about wizard slang later.

"Ahem." I cleared my throat and Remus looked up at me, I suddenly felt nervous, knowing that the millions of questions I had would soon be answered, and what if I didn't like what I heard? "Umm… I remember you." I finally said, quietly.

He rose an eyebrow, and I continued to speak, "You were there… that night. That night… I can remember it clear as day… some of the details are foggy… and I'm missing bits and pieces… but I remember _you_. You found me in the closet… and you took me away from that place." I finished.

"That is an impressive memory you have." He said taking a sip of his tea, and a sad look crossed his face, "You had only just turned three..."

"You said you were a friend of my parents? Who… who were they? And what happened to them? I thought they were both dead, but, but your letter said… my _father's whereabouts_… what does that mean? I know about the dark wizard, Valerie said her brother was a wizard, and he told her about him. Is he responsible for… for my mother?" I spoke fast, and Remus put up a hand to slow me down.

"Yes, your father was one of my best friends, and your mother, well she was a schoolmate of mine." He started, and sighed. I could tell this would be hard for him to talk about. "Your mother's name was Holly Dubois... she came from an old pureblood family from France, Her paternal grandparents had moved to England when her father was just a boy. They were considered to be blood traitors by those who followed…" He hesitated and lowered his voice, "I will only say his name once…" Pausing, he looked around and whispered, "_Lord Voldemort."_

He let out a breath, and I don't know why, but a shudder went down my spine when Remus said the name… after all it _was_ just a name.

"What is a pureblood? And a blood traitor?" I asked him, I knew a little bit from what Val and Max had told me, but Remus would know more about the matter.

Remus explained to me that a pureblood was from a wizarding family that had no muggles in their family history, those who followed, who Remus now referred to as "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named", believed that purebloods were better than wizards who were either half-blood, or muggleborns. They wanted to keep the wizarding world "clean" as Remus put it, and they believed that any _true _wizards who thought otherwise, were deemed to be blood traitors, and enemies of the Dark Lord.

"So, my mother was murdered because she was a _blood traitor..."_ I stated, trying to put the pieces together.

"There's a little more to it than that..." He said sadly. "You-Know-Who had the Dubois line completely eradicated for being blood traitors… and your mother was the last of her line. Now… your father, he… he comes from a very old pureblood family as well… but, they _were_ the kind who followed the Dark Lord and what he stood for. Your father… Sirius Black…" I noticed he almost spat out his name, but was holding back. "...he did not agree with his family ideals, or so we thought… anyways, he ran off to live with the Potters…"

Remus then went on to explain about his other friends from Hogwarts, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew. How shortly after Hogwarts, Sirius and Holly got married, and how she had found out she was pregnant with me a few months before they graduated. James married Lily Evans, a muggle-born witch, another schoolmate, a year later, and along with their friend Peter, they joined a group called "The Order of the Phoenix". He told me it was a group that had been founded during the war by Albus Dumbledore himself, in an effort to fight the Dark Lord and his followers, also called Death Eaters.

"James and Lily were your godparents." Remus told me, "They had a son, Harry, about a year and a half after you were born, and they asked Holly and Sirius to be his godparents. There…" He hesitated "...was a prophecy… involving Harry and the Dark Lord."

I listened intently, as he told me about how the Potter's had to go into hiding, how Dumbledore had used what was called a _Fidelius Charm,_ and only one person, a "Secret Keeper", knew of their whereabouts, "...that person was your father, Aurora. He betrayed the Potters…"

"Surely he was threatened…" I suggested, not wanting to believe that my father was a bad wizard, that I could be the descendant of a bad wizard.

Remus looked at me sadly, "I wish that were true Aurora, I do. The night your mother was murdered by Death Eaters, for being part of the Order and protecting the Potters, the night I found you in the closet… that same night, the Dark Lord himself used the killing curse on James and Lily."

Remus than told me about how Harry Potter became "The Boy Who Lived" when Lord V- sorry, _You-Know-Who's_ curse backfired on him, defeating himself in the process. I wondered about Harry, and what happened to him. I thought about how our lives were somewhat paralleled,our families were so closely tied to one another, and both of us were orphaned. Well I guess I wasn't a _true_ orphan, though I _was_ only just finding out, details I suppose.

"And my father?" I asked nervously, taking another gulp from my teacup.

"He is in Azkaban, a high-security prison for wizards. He was caught… the day after… after… well, he killed Peter… and twelve… he killed _twelve _muggles, with _one_ curse."

I didn't understand, from what Remus had told me, it just didn't make sense _why_ Sirius Black, my father, would go from being against his family's values, to fighting against what he was raised to believe in… to turn dark in the end, betraying his friends in the process. I did understand now, however, why Remus had appeared so sad in my memory of that night, he had lost his three friends. What I also didn't understand, was why I hadn't been raised in the wizarding world, I asked him why had I been kept in the dark?

"Dumbledore, he thought it would be best, for your own protection, if you were raised in the muggle world. He feared, that there would be those seeking retribution, or that your father's extended family, many of who followed You-Know-Who would come looking for you. Those of us left from The Order decided it was best for you… that you had the best chance, for the sake of your mother's memory… and your godparents', we couldn't allow you to be raised to believe in what they had died fighting against." He explained.

"And what about Harry?" I asked, afterall, in someway, we were all that was left of our pseudo-family. My parents being his godparents, and vice-versa.

Remus told me how he was living with his mother's sister and her family; all muggles, again for his own safety. "He'll be starting Hogwarts next year I believe, if my memory serves me…" He trailed off.

I looked at him then, "Why didn't _you_ take me in?" I asked him straightforwardly, tilting my head.

He coughed, choking on his tea, and set the cup down on the table, looking around nervously he answered, "That… well… it's complicated…"

"Why is it complicated?" I asked.

"That is question for another day." He said, changing the subject he gestured up at the clock on the wall, which read 12:45. "Ahh… well, we should get going, there's lots to buy after all, we ought to get a move on if I'm to have you back by 4."

With a swish of his wand the table cleared, and he led me towards the rear of the pub, into a small space with a giant brick wall in front of us. I watched as he took out his wand, and began tapping on several bricks, once he retracted his wand, the bricks began to move, creating an archway into Diagon Alley.

Words cannot even begin to describe what I felt the first time I saw Diagon Alley, I just remember feeling excited, and I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face as I looked around in wonder. It was so colorful and bright, with wizard families hurriedly wandering the streets from shop to shop. I felt a warmth spread inside me as I felt like I was this much closer to getting a true sense of who I was.

I wiped away the fears I had about the evil wizards, and how my father was one of them, I knew I would be a _good_ witch, and that's all that mattered to me.

**A/N: **_Thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter will be a little faster paced, and cover more ground than this one. If I didn't mention it before, this is going to be an eventual George/OC (but I'm not giving any hints as to where in the storyline it will happen) because I just love the Weasley's, especially the twins. This will also focus a lot on her relationship with Harry (non-romantic of course) and the parallels in both of their lives. I hope you will enjoy reading this little brainchild fantasy of mine._

_Until next time:_

_-Buttercup_

_**theLastoftheLaiquendi: **__Thank you for the review! I am glad you are enjoying both my stories, welcome to this one I hope you enjoy it just as much, cheers!_


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: **_As much as I wish I did… I do not own Harry Potter. Hope you enjoy this chapter. _

"Okay, so we've got my books, my robes, quills, parchment..." I voiced aloud, checking off my school list as Remus and I walked through the busy cobblestone streets of Diagon Alley, narrowly avoiding passersby.

Our first stop had been Gringotts bank, I was quite taken aback to see that it was staffed by Goblins, and I wondered what other creatures I would encounter in this magical world. Remus taught me about wizard currency after I asked him, and had accompanied me to my vault. I was shocked to see how many coins there were in there.

"_Your mother inherited quite a bit from her family before they… well… now it belongs to you. Should be more than enough to see you through 7 years at Hogwarts." _He had explained.

I had grabbed what I needed and put the coins in my bookbag, which Remus had bewitched to hold _all _of my purchases without growing in size, or weight.

"All I need now… is a wand!" I exclaimed. This was the part I was most looking forward to since I had received my letter.

"Well, then our next stop is Ollivanders, every witch and wizard who's ever been to Hogwarts gets their wand from there." He smiled at me.

I felt comfortable around Remus, like he was someone I had known my entire life. I smiled up at him as he led the way, imagining what it would have been like to have him around as an Uncle during my childhood. It saddened me, the thought, and it had me yearning for a life I never had a chance to know. Before it could dampen my spirits, a blur of red snapped me back to reality.

We stopped abruptly, almost crashing into a red-headed boy, as he ran directly in front of us. Bending down, he scooped up what appeared to be a mangy looking rat and stood up straight, at full height he was a few inches shorter than me.

The rat's beady eyes found mine in a most peculiar way, almost as if it… recognized me? No, it couldn't possibly, I just really didn't like rodents and I was imagining things. I shuddered inwardly as the boy quickly moved the rat into his jacket pocket where it was hidden from sight.

"S-s-sorry about that." He stammered out, eyes wide, "I j-j-just didn't want Scabbers to get trampled."

"That's quite alrig-…" Remus started to say, before a loud voice interrupted him.

It must have been his mother, judging from the shade of red the boy's ears turned when she starting shouting, "RONALD WEASLEY!"

We turned to see a small and plump woman, rather angry at the moment I might add, with hair as red as her son's storming towards where we stood. "DON'T YOU GO RUNNING OFF ON ME YOUNG MAN… I'VE GOT ENOUGH OF YOU TO KEEP TRACK OF AND ONLY TWO EYES TO DO IT WITH!"

When she caught up to her son Ronald, who stood frozen in place, looking downright embarrassed and terrified, she finally saw us standing there, and composed herself. She straightened out her skirts, and a young red-headed girl appeared from behind her, and gave me a shy smile. "Oh hello, so sorry you had to hear all that…" She said to us, pulling her son to her side and straightening the collar on his shirt. "

"It's quite alright Molly." He said to her, smiling softly.

The woman, now identified as Molly stood up straight, and her eyes went wide with recognition. "Remus? Is that you?" and he nodded. "Its… its been quite a long time." She said, then turned to me, and her face softened "Is this…?"

"Yes, I'm accompanying Aurora while she does her shopping today." Remus answered her.

Molly, though she had been outraged at her son moments ago, and seemed nothing short of terrifying, stepped forward to get a closer look at me. She placed both hands on my shoulders and lowered her face until her eyes met mine. They were kind, her eyes, I could tell, yet there was a trace of sadness behind them as she looked at me.

"Bless my soul… she looks so much like Holly..." Molly exclaimed looking up at Remus, bringing a hand up to her mouth. "If your mother had been a brunette I swear I'd be loo-" she caught herself, but I knew what she was going to say "_looking at a ghost."_

I would later learn that she and my mother had been quite close during their time in the Order. Though Mrs. Weasley was almost ten years older than my mother, they had bonded rather quickly over their shared love of some famous witch singer… Celeste something? They also held the same family values, my mother had wanted to have a large family just like the Weasley's once upon a time. '_Holly and Molly'_ they would call themselves; they were a dynamic duo, more like sisters, during the short time they knew each other, and Molly was devastated when she learned of my mother's murder at the hands of the Death Eaters.

I could tell that a wave of memories washed over Molly as she stared at me so wistfully, and I hoped she would one day share those memories of my mother with me.

Molly collected herself and asked me, "So you'll be starting your first year at Hogwarts then?" I nodded and she smiled at me, "My boys, Fred and George, they're starting their second year, then there's Percy, he's a fourth-year, and Charlie, well, he's starting his final year." She beamed proudly.

"I'll be going to Hogwarts next year!" The boy, Ronald, piped in, his ears significantly less red.

I wondered then what it would be like to grow up with so many siblings, if my mother hadn't been killed and my father hadn't turned out, well… how he did, perhaps her dream of having a large family would be a reality. Molly and Remus made small-talk while I imagined what it would be like to have even one sibling, I never really knew what it was like.

The children of the families I'd been placed in, before I found myself in Valerie and Max's care, were either afraid of me, or not very nice to me in the short times I was with them. I never knew what it was like to be a proper family, the older couple I lived with were always kind to me, but there was something missing all the same, a void they couldn't fill.

We bid goodbye to Mrs. Weasley and her two children, I wondered what her other sons were like, seeing as I'd be attending school with them. I waved farewell to Ron; he'd whispered to me how he hated to be called Ronald, while the adults were talking, and Ginny, who was a year younger than him. Molly gave me a hug, I felt warm and could smell hints of lemon, and old wool from being pressed up against her, it was all so familiar, but I couldn't quite place my finger on it. We parted ways and Molly called out that she hoped she would see me at the train station.

We stopped in front of the storefront that read '_Ollivanders"_ in large gold lettering, above its curved windows. Remus told me he would go get us a snack and come back, as we were both feeling a bit peckish after all that walking. He also told me the wand ceremony, was quite a personal experience, and wished me luck. I took a deep breath and entered the empty shop, the old door creaking behind me. There appeared to be no one in here, I looked around, twiddling my fingers nervously as I took a step further into the old building.

"Hello…?" I called out, as I approached the counter.

I jumped when an elderly man suddenly appeared from behind the counter, had he been here this whole time? He had bushy white eyebrows, and unruly white hair. Without so much as a word, he turned away from me, grabbing a box from a nearby shelf and gently placed it on the counter in front of me.

"I've been expecting you Miss Black." He said calmly. I was shocked and wondered how he knew who I was. "I remember… when your parents came to me for their first wands."

"How…?" I started to say, before he interrupted me.

"Every wand is unique, Miss Black." He pointed his finger to his temple. "And I remember every wand I've ever sold."

"Let me just get your measurements…" He muttered, and a piece of measuring tape appeared. He asked me which one was my wand arm, I was right-handed so I held out that arm. He took a few quick measurements and with a snap of his finger the tape disappeared.

"Go on, give this one a try…" He opened up the box he had put on the counter moments ago, and handed me what looked like a stick upon first glance.

I felt a tingle in my fingers as he placed it in my hand, and I inspected it carefully, not too sure what to do with it. A handle was carved out of the end, and it was so dark it was almost… black.

"Yew, 14 inches, with Dragon Heartstring… I wonder. Very similar to your father's wand this one. Go on, give it a swish." He said, and demonstrated the motion for me to copy.

I waved the wand, the exact way he had shown me. My jaw dropped as the shelf across from me erupted in flames. Mr. Ollivander let out a yelp, and quickly waved his own wand, and a stream of water came out of it like a firehose, within seconds the flames were no more. I quickly put the wand back on the counter, pushing it towards Mr. Ollivander and I took a few steps backwards.

"Definitely not that one." He grabbed another, and handed it to me. This time I was a little more hesitant to take it. We went through several more wands, all with equally abysmal results and I began to wonder if I would ever find a wand. Would Hogwarts still accept me if I was a wandless witch?

He grabbed one more, and handed it to me, it was more slender than some of the other wands I had tried, and was quite light in weight. It was dark brown in color, with a bit of a reddish tinge to it. The handle was a darker tone than the rest of the wan, and it had been etched with an intricate design that when I squinted at it, looked like constellations in the night sky.

"Try this one…" He said, sounding almost as exasperated as I felt, his hair looking wilder than it had when I first entered his shop. "Rowan Wood, 12 ¼ inches, with a Phoenix feather core."

I braved myself for whatever chaos would occur shortly after I waved the wand. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and made the same swishing motion I had been doing for nearly the last hour, I had definitely perfected it. I opened my eyes, and was amazed to see gold sparks in the shape of tiny stars shoot out of the tip of the wand. I watched as they elegantly floated up to the ceiling, and cast a golden glow around the shop.

I couldn't help the wide smile that appeared on my face, it was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen. Mr. Ollivander clapped his hands, his face beamed with pride and I now understood what Remus had meant when he said that the wand ceremony was a very personal experience. After all of that, I finally had my very own wand.

"I suspect… we will see great things from you Miss Black." He said to me sounding almost like a proud father, "Phoenix Feathers are known to be quite picky when choosing their prospective owners… and Rowan wands, they are most happy with those pure of heart, no dark wizard has ever owned a Rowan wand."

"What do you mean?" I asked him curiously.

"The wand _chooses_ the witch or wizard." He explained, "This wand senses greatness in you, and it will serve you well, it is loyal to you."

I smiled sheepishly, and handed him the money for the wand while he wrapped it in brown parcel. Once he handed it to me I placed it in my bag and left Ollivander's. The second the door shut behind me another young wizard entered the wand shop.

I smiled to myself as I played the strange old wizard's words back in my head… '_pure of heart… no dark wizard has ever owned a Rowan wand.'_

I made my way over to Remus who was waiting for me with a bag of strange looking candies, as I got closer I could hear a buzzing sound.

"Fudge Flies." He said as he popped one in his mouth. He held one out to me, "Want one?"

Hesitantly I accepted the strange chocolate, not wanting to be rude, and placed it on my tongue. It buzzed around for a couple seconds, before it melted on my tongue, I giggled.

"It kind of tickles." I laughed, and Remus chuckled.

"Yes, I suppose it does. I wasn't sure what to get but I decided you can never go wrong with chocolate." He smiled, and I agreed with his sentiment. We each had another fudge fly before he asked, "Now, how was Ollivanders?"

"It was… interesting to say the least." I admitted.

"Yes… Mr. Ollivander is a little odd, but a genius in wandlore. I can still remember when I got my wand… went thru about half a dozen, nearly blew the whole place up before my wand chose me." He reminisced.

I told him all about my experience in the little wand shop, and how I had set a whole shelf on fire.

We wandered around Diagon Alley a little longer, Remus telling me tales of his days in Hogwarts, and I hung onto every word. For the first time I was actually excited to go to school, having been homeschooled for the past few years after years of torment in London's public school system.

We stopped in front of a shop that seemed to be very busy, the sign read "_Quality Quidditch Supplies"_, I peered into the display window which had three different broomsticks propped up for all to see.

"Remus, what's Quidditch?" I asked.

"It's only the greatest wizarding sport ever invented." He explained, gazing at the brooms with a sparkle in his eye. "Each house at Hogwarts has its own team, and they compete against each other. You'll get to watch this year, and when you're in your second year you can try out for the team if you like."

"And it's played on… those?" I asked pointing the brooms, and he nodded. "First years aren't allowed them." I said sounding bummed.

"You still get Flying Lessons, you just use the school broomsticks. Ruddy old things, but they get the job done." He explained.

"Did you play Quidditch Remus?" I asked him.

He laughed shaking his head, "No, no, no, not me. James was the Quidditch star, best seeker Gryffindor ever had, possibly even Hogwarts. I never missed a game though, your father and I… we would go to every game together…" he coughed and quickly looked at his watch, it was 3:30, "We should probably get going."

I nodded and we left the busy Quidditch shop behind us as I imagined what it would feel like to fly on a broom. I couldn't wait to see a game in action and wondered if it was like football in the sky… though I didn't quite know how that would work.

We made our way back through Diagon Alley the same way we came in, and as we got closer to the Leaky Cauldron, I went over my school list once more to make sure I had everything.

"Remus?" I said, coming to a halt. There was one last item on my list. "It says here I can bring a pet if I like, where can I find one here?"

"Ah, we're not too far..." He said, "...this way."

I followed him a few shops down until we came across a storefront that read "_Magical Menagerie" _in beautiful cursive.

We entered the shop, a little bell ringing as we opened and shut the door. I scrunched my nose, the smell… I really can't put my finger on it… it smelled like… well, animals. A whole bunch of different animals, you would think that wizards would have some sort of spell or magical air freshener to cover _that _up.

"So what're you thinking?" Remus asked.

"Well, I know I don't want a rat… I'm not a big fan of rodents." I said, shuddering as I eyed the rats in cages. "Maybe an owl? That way I can write home to Val and Max, they told me that's how wizards send their mail."

He nodded and waved down the shopkeeper who led us to the owl section, there were so many different kinds I didn't know how I would ever choose. Feeling overwhelmed, my eyes landed on an owl that was white as snow. As I approached her I noticed that she had striking yellow eyes and specks of brown on her wings.

"Wow, you sure are beautiful." I said softly, stroking her head with my pointer finger, and she playfully nipped at it with her beak.

I was about to wave down the shopkeeper to ask how much for this particular owl, when I suddenly felt something soft rub itself against my leg. I heard a soft, mewing sound, and looked down at my feet to see a tiny ball of black fur pushing its head against my ankle.

Crouching down I picked up the little kitten, its ears were folded over, and all you could see on its face were the most enticing grey-blue eyes. I immediately thought of Mr. Snuffles, this kitten reminded me so much of my favorite childhood possession. My only childhood possession.

I pet the kitten's head and it began to purr, melting my heart in the process. Although I was set on getting an owl to bring to school, I had a feeling this cat was meant for me. I looked between the owl and the little ball of fluff in my arms and felt torn.

Remus saw me with the little kitten cradled in my arms and sensing my inner struggle said, "Don't worry, Hogwarts has its own owls that you can use to send mail as well."

I looked back at the Snowy owl on her perch behind me, who didn't appear to be too perturbed that I hadn't chosen her to be my companion. Cradling the small feline in my arms, I brought it the front of the shop and grabbed my money bag.

"Excuse me sir," I said grabbing the shopkeeper's attention. "How much for this cat?"

The shopkeeper looked down at me with an eyebrow raised, "Ye sure ye want this one? E's quite the trouble maker this little guy, scaring the other animals, and knocking things off all me shelves." He warned.

"He doesn't seem like much trouble." I said smiling, and petting the little kitten between his folded down ears. The kitten's big eyes stared down the man in front of me as I asked again, "How much?"

"Ye can 'ave 'im." The shopkeep said, putting his hands up in defeat. "Ye'd be doing me a favour. It'll be 3 galleons if ye want to buy a pet starter kit, comes with a carrier, bed, food and water dish, 3 months of food and whatnot."

I handed him the money and put everything in my bag, absolutely astonished that even the cat carrier fit in the small opening. The shopkeeper gave me a mail order form so I could order more food while I was away at Hogwarts. I thanked him and he wished me luck before Remus and I left the shop.

As we weaved our way through the streets of Diagon Alley, Remus turned to me, asking me what I was going to name the little ball of fur in my arms.

I thought about it a moment before answering. "Salem." I answered. "I think it suits him, don't you?"

"Salem it is." Remus said as we found ourselves back inside the Leaky Caldron with a minute to spare.

We made our way back to the muggle streets of London, leaving the wizarding world behind for now. I spotted Val and Max waiting for me in our meeting spot, eagerly waving at me.

We made our way over, and I turned to Remus, thanking him for everything. He shook hands with Val and Max and we said our goodbyes, promising we would stay in touch. The three of us started to walk away towards where Max had parked the car, and they asked me how everything went.

"Where's all the stuff you bought?" Max asked, confused by my empty handedness.

"It's all in here." I said gesturing to my book bag, opening up the flap he peered inside and looked at me eyes wide.

"Impressive." He said, sounding bewildered.

"Magic." I answered, shrugging and we all laughed.

"Aurora, wait! I almost forgot." Remus called, and I stopped, turning around to see him running to catch up to us.

He dug around in his coat pockets and pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to me.

"Its… the only one I could find, I thought you would want it." He said.

I handed Salem who was now sleeping soundly, over to Val who took him gladly, cooing into his ears. I unfolded the piece of paper and gasped.

"Is this…?" I asked looking up at Remus and he nodded, smiling sadly.

Looking back down at what I now knew was a photograph, I could feel a lump forming in my throat. I smiled down at the three black and white figures in the photo, a young woman who looked quite like me, only with lighter hair smiled down at the infant in her arms. The infant, _me_, had her arms outstretched, smiling up at the young handsome man who was busy making silly faces at her.

It was my family, my mother looked lovingly at my father who placed a kiss on her forehead, as he put his arm around her.

"Thank you." I whispered to Remus, and holding the photograph against my heart, I gave him a tight hug as a tear rolled down my cheek.

"I only wish I had more." He said sadly.

"This is perfect." I said smiling and we bid farewell once more.

As we drove through the busy streets of London during rush hour, Salem fast asleep and purring on my lap, I watched the family in the photograph the entire way home. I was tired, but today was one of the best days of my life, I finally had a sense of who I was, and knew that I would only learn more when I attended Hogwarts next week.

In my hand I held a piece of the puzzle, finally getting a glimpse at my parent's, and that to me was the most magical thing I had seen all day.

**A/N: **_I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, I know in canon that the Weasley's were not involved in the Order during the First Wizarding War, but for the sake of this story let's pretend they are, we'll learn more about their involvement later on. _

_Also… Fun fact: Aurora's wand is the same wand I got on Pottermore. Her middle name is Estelle, which means Star in French, hence the constellation design on her wand._

_It was originally a different middle name, but I decided to change it to connect her more to her father, Sirius, who shares his name with the constellation also known as "the Dog Star". _

_Thank you for reading! Until next time,_

_-Buttercup _


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: **_I only own my OC's, everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling._

The next several days passed by in a blur as I prepared myself for the first day of September, the day I began my new life at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I had spent most of my time sitting outside on the rickety old porch swing that I had helped Val paint white two summers ago. It overlooked the garden in the small backyard of our London townhome. I basked in the light summer breeze as I read through _Hogwarts: A History_ and _A History of Magic _both written by Bathilda Bagshot.

So immersed in the books I was, that the sounds of the busy streets of London never seemed to bother me at all. They were both quite heavy reads, but it did not take me long to finish them, though I'll admit I skimmed through some parts that I found to be repetitive.

As I was raised in the muggle world, I thought it would be beneficial on my part to learn as much as I possibly could about magic prior to attending Hogwarts. Being homeschooled for the past three years by Val, had made me quite the self-sufficient student, and I'd become a fast reader as well, my photographic memory was an added bonus.

I was fascinated by everything I had learned about Hogwarts and magic thus far, and was eager to further my knowledge. My trunks had been packed the evening I returned from shopping at Diagon Alley and sat waiting by my bedroom door.

After supper on my final evening in the quaint London townhome I shared with Val and Max, I found myself back on the porch swing re-reading the chapter on the Hogwarts houses. I wondered to myself what house I would be sorted into. Remus had told me he had been in Gryffindor along with my father, while my mother had been in Ravenclaw.

As I flipped through the pages, Salem hopped up onto the bench and nestled himself onto my lap. '_For such a tiny little thing, he sure can jump high…' _I thought, '_...perhaps animals found in Diagon Alley have some magical ability of their own_.' I shrugged it off and turned my attention back to the page I was on, petting Salem's back he began to purr softly.

My thoughts drifted as I imagined what school life would be like, I suddenly began to feel insecure as the thought of residing with schoolmates for an entire year crept in. I didn't have the best memories when it came to other children, often being taunted, or openly avoided whenever I displayed my magical ability.

I never had a friend, nor did I have the slightest clue on how to go about making one, I thought sadly. I got on well with my foster parents Valerie and Max, and it was easy enough to get along with Remus. It would be nice to have a friend, but I still felt anxious when it came to meeting others around my own age. The fear of rejection from my childhood spent bouncing from home to home had taken a hold on me.

'_But they will be just like you, witches, wizards, and there will be others there from a muggle background to…_' I reassured myself, before a nagging voice reminded me '_...but __**your**_ _father is an infamous mass murderer, who will want to be friends with you?' _

Feeling defeated, I slammed the book shut and ran up to my room tears streaming down my face. I threw myself onto my bed, and I didn't even notice that the door had slammed itself behind me so hard it had fallen off its hinges. Had I mentioned that my magic often showed itself whenever I was having intense emotions? I'd learned to calm myself down thanks to the help of my caretakers over the years, but in this particular moment I was having a lot of mixed emotions and couldn't seem to control them.

I felt a gentle hand on my back and turned to see Valerie sit down beside me on the bed. Stroking my back until my tears subsided and I calmed down, she pulled my head into her lap once my breaths had steadied, and began to softly stroke my hair.

"What is on your mind sweetheart?" She asked me softly.

I felt embarrassed by my insecurities, but began to tell her what was bothering me.

"...I don't know if I want to go to Hogwarts Val…" I finished sadly.

"Pish posh!" She exclaimed, "You have been so excited about tomorrow all summer! Have you or have you not been hiding away reading your textbooks about magic this past week?"

I smiled softly and nodded. She sighed, and sat me up, we moved to sit against my headboard and I rested my head on her shoulder.

"It's completely normal for you to be having these feelings, it's nervous jitters dear." She sighed and wrapped her arm around me. "It will do you good to get out there and meet people around your own age… people like you."

"I'm just nervous Val…" I admitted, "I've never had a friend my own age."

She frowned, "They will be crazy if they don't like you Aurora. You are smart, kind and you can hold your own in a battle of wits." She smirked at me before adding, "Don't be afraid to put yourself out there."

I left out the part about my father's identity, I wasn't quite ready to disclose that information. Val was right, though I was afraid of rejection due to the copious amounts of it I had experienced as a young child, I shouldn't be afraid of putting myself out there, the only thing I was more afraid of was being alone. If I chose not to go, I knew I would regret it forever. I smiled up at her and kissed her on the cheek.

"Now… what do you want for breakfast tomorrow? It is _your _big day after all, so your choice." She smiled, nudging my shoulder.

"Full breakfast, poached eggs and _hold the mushrooms._" We both said my favorite at the same time, bursting into a fit of giggles at the end. The worries I'd been having washing away with each hearty laugh.

"Come on, let's go! You don't want to miss the train!" Max bellowed from downstairs the next morning.

"Just a minute!" I called back down as I checked over my trunk one last time before shutting it and fastening the buckles.

"You better not be going through your trunk again! You've only had the bloody thing packed for a whole week!" He yelled back up the stairs.

"Not to mention she checked it three times last night!" Val added, taunting me in a sing song voice.

"That too!" Max chuckled.

Okay… I may have slight OCD when it comes to preparing for things. Can you blame me though, I'd be gone for a whole school year, I didn't want to forget anything.

"I'm coming!" I shouted, lugging the large burgundy trunk down the narrow staircase.

_Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. _The noise finally stopped once I reached the bottom of the stairs where Val and an impatient Max were waiting for me. Max often got anxious when it came to being on time for things, even if it wasn't for him.

I quickly slipped on my black leather Doc Martens boots over my tights and pulled a cream coloured jumper over my head. I straightened out the skirt of my navy blue dress dotted with white sunflowers as it had bunched up slightly.

"Ready to go?" Val asked me with a smile and I nodded.

Max grabbed the trunk and brought it out to the car, putting it into the boot with the other smaller bags. I'd had my cases organized, one was full of my uniforms and robes, another contained my casual attire for weekends, as well as the items I had brought for Salem. The largest trunk was home to my supplies, it was also the heaviest of the three, thanks to, you guessed it, the _books_.

"Come on Salem!" I called and within seconds the tiny black kitten came running to my feet and I scooped him up in my arms.

Val picked up the empty carrier and we both made our way over to the car. Val quickly stopping only to lock the door behind us. I buckled myself in and held Salem on my lap, as Max started the car. I took one last look at the only home I'd known in recent memory, and then we were off.

Kings Cross was even busier than Diagon Alley had been. I watched with wide eyes as people ran about the station, rushing to catch their trains. As I gazed around the sights before me, I hadn't noticed that Max had gone off until he appeared with a cart and began to load my belongings onto it.

"Sorry Salem, you're going to have to go into the carrier until we get on the train." I said to him as I put him inside of his little carrier, quickly locking the gate as he let out a loud meow in protest.

We began to make our way through the hustle and bustle of the station, keeping our eyes open for Platform 9 ¾. Valerie said she had no idea where it was, as she was often already away at her own finishing school, and she never got to see her older brother off to Hogwarts.

It was almost quarter to 11 and I was nervous I would miss the train. We made it to the platforms between 9 and 10 but there was no sign that read 9 ¾. I looked around frantically, and before I stopped to ask a nearby attendant if he knew where it was, I spotted a familiar face and felt relieved.

A horde of redheads came rushing towards where the three of us stood. There were seven of them but I only recognized three of them.

"Aurora!" Molly exclaimed, smiling at me, "How good to see you again!"

"It's good to see you too Mrs. Weasley." I smiled and waved at Ron and Ginny.

Ron's ears went pink and Ginny smiled back at me. I introduced Molly to Val and Max, and they shook hands, then I asked her if she would show me how to get to the seemingly non-existent Platform.

"Of course dearie!" She smiled at me and pointed to the brick wall directly in front of us. "It's just straight through that barrier, best if you give it a bit of a running go. Ooh, Charlie, why don't you go first, show Aurora here how it's done."

An older boy with the same distinct red hair as the rest of his family stepped forward and smiled at me before breaking off into a run. I remembered Molly mentioning her son Charlie was starting his last year at Hogwarts. I was shocked to say the least, when he disappeared suddenly and I turned to face the plump woman beside me.

"Will we be able to pass through the barrier?" Valerie shyly asked as she looked just as shocked as I did.

"Of course!" Molly assured her, "There are plenty of muggleborns and their parents are able to pass through to see their children off. We can go through together once they've all gone through if you like."

I watched as Max and Val smiled at each other, then nodded at Molly. I was beginning to like the Weasley family patriarch, and I wondered if my mother would have been like her if she were still around.

"Go on Aurora." Mrs. Weasley encouraged me and I turned to see all eyes on me. There was a boy with horn rimmed glasses and another two who were identical, those would be Mrs. Weasley's other sons. Max and Val smiled at me reassuringly and gave me an encouraging nod.

"Good luck." Ron called out, his voice cracking slightly causing his cheeks to redden. The twin boys snickered behind him.

"Thanks Ron." I said smiling at him.

I gripped the handles of the cart so tightly my knuckles turned white. Taking a deep breath I started to run towards the brick wall, closing my eyes as I approached it. Feeling a slight breeze as I passed through the barrier I opened my eyes and was amazed at the sight before me.

The first thing I noticed was the scarlet red steam engine, and I couldn't help the smile that spread on my face. Taking a few steps forward, I gazed around in wonder.

'_So this is Platform 9 ¾…' _I thought to myself as I watched students hugging their parents goodbye. A lump formed in my throat at the sight, I would never truly know what that felt like. Sure, I had the Goldman's, and I _did _love them in my own way, but it just wasn't the same.

My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden hand appearing on my shoulder causing me to jump slightly. Looking behind me I saw Max and Val standing on either side of me. Both of them equally amazed at the sight in front of them. I had been so enthralled by it all I hadn't noticed that they, along with the rest of the Weasley's had appeared through the barrier.

I thanked Mrs. Weasley and she gave me a hug, wishing me all the best on my first year at Hogwarts. I then turned to the couple who had taken me in and loved me as their own for the past three and a half years. They enveloped me in a group hug and I held back tears. Even though they weren't my true parents, this felt nice, and I was eternally grateful that they were a part of my life. I pulled back to see both Valerie and Max wiping away tears of their own.

"Promise us you'll write as soon as you're settled in?" Max said and I nodded.

Val stepped forward and grabbed both sides of my face, before planting a kiss on my forehead she said, "Remember what we talked about, don't be afraid. We love you so much Aurora."

I smiled at her and said, "I love you guys too, I'll miss you both."

"We'll miss you." Max said. Winking, he added "Though I doubt you'll be missing us all that much once you get there."

"We'll see you at Christmas." Val smiled at me and I waved at them before turning and making my way towards the train.

I was struggling to get my final trunk, I'd saved the hardest one for last, into the luggage compartment, and I wished I'd had Remus around to use that charm on my trunks as he had on my bag that day in Diagon Alley. Suddenly the trunk didn't feel so heavy anymore as two more sets of hands helped me lift my trunk into the compartment. I let out a breath once the trunk was finally in and picked up the carrier that contained Salem up off the ground.

"Thank you." I said.

Turning around I came face to face with Molly's twin sons, if I remembered correctly they were just a year ahead of me.

"It was no problem." They said in unison.

"Wouldn't want you to…" One started.

"...throw your back out." The other finished.

"I'm Fred." The one on the left said.

"George." The other twin said.

"I'm…" I began to introduce myself before Fred interrupted me.

"Aurora. We know…"

"... ickle Ronniekins has been going on…" George continued.

"... and on about the pretty girl he…"

"...almost ran over in Diagon Alley…"

"...all week!" They finished together.

I felt a slight blush rise to my cheek, no one had ever called me pretty before, even if it was coming from a boy almost two years younger than me.

"Do you do this often?" I asked them.

"Do what?" They asked in unison.

"The whole finish eachothers sentences thing?" I asked raising my eyebrow.

They shrugged and said "Don't know what you're talking about."

I only laughed, they seemed friendly enough, maybe making friends wouldn't be as hard as I thought it would be. I asked them what house they were in.

"Gryffindor." Fred answered, at least I think it was Fred. We had started walking towards the line of students waiting to get inside the train and for all I know they may have switched places.

"Our whole family's in Gryffindor." George? I think it was George, said.

The train's whistle blew loudly, signalling one minute to eleven, just as we stepped foot on the train. The twins spotted a group further down the train and waved, they turned to me before heading towards their friends.

"It was nice chatting with you Aurora." One of them said.

"Hope you're in Gryffindor." The other said, giving me a wink.

'_If I wind up in Gryffindor I'm going to have to figure out a way to tell those two apart.' _I told myself as I watched them run off to their friends.

I wandered down the corridor of the train, holding the carrier close to me so it didn't bump into anyone. I was searching for a compartment to sit in, and was having a hard time finding the courage to try and join one that was already occupied.

Towards the rear of the train there were two compartments remaining. The one on my left was completely empty, while the one to my right was occupied by two girls who looked around my age. I began to turn left before I stopped myself and remembered Val's words.

'_Don't be afraid to put yourself out there…' _I took a deep breath and opened the door to the compartment on my right. I would have to face my fear if I didn't want to wind up alone all year, I was done being afraid.

"Um, excuse me… is it alright if I join you?" I asked shyly.

The girls nodded enthusiastically and gestured for me to grab a seat. I smiled and sat down across from them, putting Salem's crate down beside me.

"I'm Cho." The girl across from me said, holding out her hand, she had an Irish accent I noticed. "Are you a first year too?"

I took her hand and shook it, nodding I said. "Yeah I am. My names Aurora."

Cho was very pretty I noted, she had shiny black hair and deep brown eyes. The girl beside her held her hand out and I shook it as well.

"Marietta." She said, she had very curly strawberry blonde hair and a soft smile.

Both the girls seemed very nice, and I started to feel more at ease. Salem began meowing loudly from inside his crate, and I quickly undid the latch to let him out.

"Ooh! So cute!" Marietta squealed, once the small kitten came into their sightline. "I wanted a cat so, but my mum said I couldn't bring a pet this year. _I have to pass my exams first._" She rolled her eyes as she imitated what I assumed was a dramatized version of her mother's voice.

"What's it's name?" Cho asked, smiling.

"His name's Salem." I answered.

The girls cooed at the small black kitten and the little bugger just soaked up all the attention.

The train suddenly lurched backward as it started to move and both Cho and Marietta nearly fell out of their seats, while I was forced backwards into my own. The three of us laughed and spent the remainder of the trip discussing which parts of Hogwarts we were most excited about. We discussed what houses we thought we might get sorted into over a seemingly endless supply of candy.

My anxieties were disappearing and I was quite enjoying getting to know the two girls, I hoped we would be sorted into the same house.

I thought to myself, that perhaps this wouldn't be so bad after all.

**A/N: **_And Aurora is off to Hogwarts! What kinds of things will she discover there? I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. _

_Let me know your thoughts, I love hearing what you think!_

_Until next time:_

_-Buttercup _


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: **_I only own Aurora, and everything else Harry Potter relates belongs to J.K Rowling. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Let me know your thoughts, I love hearing from you. _

It was nightfall by the time the train reached its destination in Hogsmeade Village. Cho, Marietta and myself, now fully dressed in our uniforms, pushed our way through the crowd of students towards an exit.

Once we stepped outside I couldn't help it as my jaw dropped in amazement. Though you could barely see the outline of the castle in the night sky, the lights from within shone brightly, and it was even more beautiful than the city lights back home in London.

Salem was begrudgingly put back into his crate, and I left him where I saw other students dropping off their pets. I wasn't nervous about leaving him behind because I had read that once the Sorting ceremony is over, all of your belongings are magically transported into your dorm.

"Firs' years! Firs' years! Over 'ere! Follow me!" A booming voice bellowed, and you couldn't miss who the owner of the voice was. As we were near the back of the train, the man shouting was closer towards the front end, and even from a distance you could tell that he was exceedingly tall and wide, almost like a giant!

"Firs' years! Firs' years!" He continued to shout, his voice only getting louder the closer we got to him.

The man towered over all of us first year students as we gathered around him. He appeared to be doing a headcount, and I thought he must have been informed on how many first year students to expect.

He had on a large brown trench coat, at least five or six of us could have fit inside it easily. His dark hair was just as long and bushy as his beard, which hid a soft smile, and that's when his eyes landed on me.

"Ahh! Aurora, I didn' know you'd be startin' Hogwarts this year!" He said catching me off guard, and I looked up at him curiously. "Las' time I saw you, you was jus' a wee babe!"

"You know who I am?" I asked him.

He smiled at me, "O' course! Knew yer paren's when they were a' Hogwarts, yer mum was a brigh' young witch she was. Yer da'... well 'e was a troublemaker tha' one. Rubeus Hagrid, a' yer service, Keeper o' Keys an' Grounds 'ere a' Hogwarts."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Hagrid." I said, and I couldn't help but return his smile, "I hope to hear some of these stories about my parent's one day."

"Anytime Aurora, you jus' come on down an' I'd be more 'an happy too." He beamed.

Hagrid led the group of first years down to the docks, and directed us into the small boats. I eagerly joined my friends from the train in one, and as the boats magically drifted across the lake I couldn't keep the smile off of my face.

Once we entered the castle, an older witch was waiting for us at the top of a staircase. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun but her lips were even tighter. She stood with her arms crossed against her emerald green robes, her stern gaze scanning over all of us as we approached.

Cho and I looked at each other nervously, "We better not cross her…" Cho whispered to me and I nodded my head in agreement.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall." Hagrid said as he led us to her.

"Thank you Hagrid. I will take them from here." She replied in a Scottish accent.

"_So she is the one who sent me my letter."_ I thought as I now had a face to the name, her eyes met mine before quickly looking away, her lips pursed, and left me feeling unsettled.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." She said. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses…"

We listened to her dive into a well rehearsed speech about the Sorting ceremony and the houses. She also explained to us how the points system worked, and how the house with the most points would win the House cup at the end of the school year.

"... I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." She finished, the sharpness of her voice causing me to stand up straighter.

She informed us that the ceremony would soon begin, and told us she would return to us when they were ready.

"Form a line, and follow me." Professor McGonagall told us when she re-emerged. "The ceremony is about to begin."

We did as we were told and followed the stern looking witch into the Great Hall.

The first thing I noticed was the ceiling, I had read that it was enchanted, but to see it in person, it was absolutely breathtaking. It was as if there was no roof above us at all, it looked just like the night sky with millions of tiny stars twinkling above us.

The room was lit by thousands of candles that had been bewitched to float in mid-air. Below them, there were four long tables spread out across the Great Hall, one for each House I assumed, and another, at the end that housed the professors.

Professor McGonagall led us down the center, between the four tables. At the middle of the head table sat a wizard who donned bright purple robes with a matching hat, he had long white hair, and an even longer white beard. His blue eyes sparkled behind half-moon spectacles, and I could have sworn he winked at me when he noticed me staring.

"That's Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster." Marietta whispered to me.

I'd read all about Albus Dumbledore of course, and if what was written about him was true then we were in good hands here at Hogwarts.

My attention was brought back to Professor McGonagall when she placed a four-legged stool in front of the crowd of first years. Then she proceeded to place a pointed wizard's hat on top of the stool. The hat looked like it had been through the ringer, frayed and dirty as it was.

I noticed it was covered in patches as I stared it down, when suddenly the hat twitched and a rip near its brim formed the shape of mouth and it began to sing. I stood dumbfounded, as Hogwarts seemed to be full of surprises already.

The hall burst into applause when the hat finished its song, the first years eagerly joining in. Professor McGonagall stepped forward once more, and this time she held a scroll in her hands.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted" She said as she began to unravel the scroll, her eyes never leaving us.

"Adams, Jeremy!" She called out the first name.

A round faced boy with shaggy blonde hair stepped forward nervously, and sat on the stool. Professor McGonagall placed the sorting hat on his head; the hat appeared to be humming and hawing to itself as it decided where to place the boy.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" It exclaimed after about thirty seconds.

The table to my right burst into a loud applause as they welcomed their newest member Jeremy to their ranks. McGonagall called out the next name and so on and so forth.

Five students had been sorted, so far two to Ravenclaw, two to Slytherin, and one to Hufflepuff. For some students, the hat sorted them within seconds of it being placed on their heads, while for others it took a little longer.

"Bell, Katie!" Professor McGonagall called out the next name, and a girl with dark brown hair, which she had pulled away from her face with a pink headband, stepped forward smiling.

After several seconds the sorting hat called out "GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table erupted into loud cheers, and Katie's smile grew wider as she skipped over to their table. I watched them give her high-fives as she searched for a place to sit.

"Black, Aurora!" McGonagall called out, her eyes fixated on me.

Gulping, I stepped forward nervously, and made my way towards to stool. Once I sat down, my eyes travelled across the room, searching for the whispers that I had been sure would come, but there were none. Perhaps this generation had forgotten about Sirius Black? I let out the breath I was holding.

I felt McGonagall place the hat on my head, and jumped slightly when it began to speak to me.

"_Hmm… lets see… where to put you, where to put you?" _The hat started. "_Intelligent you are, yes, very very clever, and there is much talent within you waiting to be released. With your bright mind you would fare well in Ravenclaw it is true… your heart seems pure but Hufflepuff will not do for you… yes, Ravenclaw seems to be the better option… but… I sense it will not fulfill your greatest needs… if you want to know more about who you are… it better be…"_

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted out loud.

The table burst into applause once more, excited to have two Gryffindors sorted back to back. I breathed a sigh of relief as I made my way over to the table, accepting high fives along the way just as Katie had done before me.

I found an empty spot next to her and sat down, she turned to me smiling.

"Hi, I'm Katie!" She said excitedly, holding out her hand.

"Aurora." I beamed back at her as we shook hands.

Turning our attention back to the sorting hat, we watched the remaining students get sorted. I was slightly disappointed that neither Cho nor Marietta from the train were sorted into my house. Both of them had been placed into Ravenclaw, and I waved at them as they sat down at the table next to the Gryffindor table.

"Looks like we're the only two girls in Gryffindor in our year." I whispered to Katie as the final first year, a girl named Sarah Wilkins was sorted into Hufflepuff.

She smirked and whispered back, "I guess we're the bravest girls in our year!"

She flexed her arm and the two of us broke out into a fit of giggles causing the boy sitting across from us to let out a huff and roll his eyes. Cormac McLaggen, he held an air of arrogance, I could see it the minute he sat down on the stool. He was a fellow first year, one of six boys sorted into Gryffindor. His obvious annoyance only made us laugh more and he eventually turned away from us.

As soon as Sarah Wilkins found her seat at the Hufflepuff table, the sorting hat and stool disappeared with a swish of Professor McGonagall's wand. The Great Hall was abuzz of voices as students became acquainted with one another.

A clinking sound soon drew everyone's attention to the front of the hall, where the Headmaster stood tapping his glass with one of his utensils. The murmuring faded and everyone's eyes and ears were on Professor Dumbledore.

"Good evening." He addressed us, his voice was soft, yet authoritative at the same time. "To our new students, welcome, and to our old students… welcome back!"

"I'd like to take a moment to introduce you all to our newest Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Weiss!" Dumbledore said, gesturing behind him.

A very tall and slender wizard stood and waved at us all, his stare was cold as ice, and he seemed to be even scarier than McGonagall. He had hair white as snow that was slicked back, and beady black eyes that stood out against his alabaster skin.

"Another one eh?" A voice down the table whispered.

"You reckon he'll last past this year?" Another voice said.

"Nah, position's cursed. No ones held onto the spot more than a year since the 50's." Said another.

"_Cursed?" _I thought and turned my attention back to Dumbledore as Professor Weiss sat back down.

"I'm afraid there's only one thing left to say." Dumbledore said smirking slightly. "Tuck in."

All of a sudden the once empty plates were full of food, more food than I'd seen in my entire life! My stomach began to rumble something terrible as the mouthwatering smells reached my nostrils.

I filled my goblet with orange juice and took a sip, feeling thirsty after a lunch that consisted of candy, chocolates and other sweets. At least I thought it was orange juice, it was much sweeter with a hint of spice. I'd later learn it was Pumpkin, strange, yet utterly delicious.

There was so much to choose from and it all looked so tasty, the students around me were hastily loading their plates with food. I settled on roasted chicken, potatoes and some Yorkshire pudding which I happily drowned in gravy, before adding some peas and carrots to the plate.

As soon as everyone had had their fill, the food disappeared, slowly fading away, leaving the dishes as clean and sparkling as they had been when we first arrived. With a pop, various desserts suddenly appeared, ranging from ice cream to any flavor of pie you could imagine.

My mouth began to water, and despite the fact that my stomach felt full just moments ago, I loaded up my plate with chocolate eclairs, a chocolate trifle and a scoop of chocolate fudge ice cream. I took a bite of the trifle and I swear it was one of the most amazing things I'd ever tasted. Grabbing another spoonful, I quickly savoured my next bite.

"Wow you sure like your chocolate!" Katie exclaimed through a mouthful of apple pie, staring at my plate.

I swallowed the last spoonful of trifle before answering her.

"Well you can never go wrong with chocolate." I said smiling.

I fondly recalled the day I had spent in Diagon Alley as I repeated the same words Remus had said to me when we shared a pack of Fudge Flies.

Sometime later when everyone's bellies were finally full, the desserts disappeared along with the plates and Albus Dumbledore stood once more.

"Ahem." He said, gathering the entire room's attention.

He gazed across the hall, making sure that all eyes were on him before he spoke.

"Now that we are fed and watered, I have a few start of term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to _all _students. Mr Filch, our caretaker, would like to kindly remind you that magic is not to be performed in the corridors between classes, and he has asked me to tell you that he has posted an updated list of banned items, which you may find posted outside his office door."

As he said the last part, his twinkling eyes drifted over to the Gryffindor table, landing on a set of identical redheads in particular.

"And lastly, Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch by the end of the first week."

Down the table I noticed the Weasley twins and their group of friends talking excitedly amongst themselves.

"_They must be trying out for the team this year." _I thought, and I couldn't wait to attend the first game of the year. One of the twins caught my gaze and smiled at me before turning back to his friends.

"And now, before we go to bed, let us join in singing the school song!" He exclaimed to several people's dismay.

Side by side with Katie and the other first years, I followed the Gryffindor prefect, none other than Charlie Weasley, through the corridors and up several staircases.

"How many more of these bloody stairs do we have to climb?" One of the boys muttered to his friend.

"The Gryffindor tower is located on the castle's seventh floor. So only three more flights of bloody stairs to go… careful, they like to move sometimes." Charlie said, without turning around.

Katie and I snickered amongst ourselves quietly as the boy's ears tinged pink. We climbed the remaining stairs and found ourselves in front of a very large portrait. One thing was for certain, I'd definitely stay in shape during my time here at Hogwarts.

"Password?" The portrait, a rather fat woman donning a pink dress asked.

"Canis Major." Charlie told her, and the portrait swung open to reveal a round hole in the wall behind it.

We followed Charlie into the portrait hole and through a short tunnel, stepping out into a very warm, very cozy looking room. There were several comfy looking armchairs and sofas, along with plenty of tables, and a rather large fireplace seemed to be the centre point of the Gryffindor Common Room.

Charlie directed us to our respective dormitories, the boys going through a door on the left, while Katie and I went right. We climbed the winding staircase, dragging our tired feet. Once we got to the top we noticed there were seven doors, and my eyes landed on a mahogany door that had a golden number 1 on it.

Entering the first year dormitory I saw that all of our things were already there waiting for us by our bedsides. There were two four poster beds, one for each of us, and each bed had deep red velvet curtains hanging from it. At the end of the room was a small bathroom. Katie and I quickly changed into our night clothes and headed to our beds, both of us tired as ever.

"I hope you don't snore!" Katie called over jokingly as she drew her curtains shut.

"No promises!" I said, laughing as I did the same.

"_Hogwarts is going to be fun." _I thought smiling to myself. Sinking into the mattress, I pulled the warm covers over me, and felt Salem curl up by my side, his gentle purring lulling me off into a deep sleep.


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: **_As per usual, everything but my OC belongs to J.K Rowling and the wonderful world of Harry Potter. _

_I looked back thru my old chapters, and noticed that for some reason my page breaks weren't showing up! I apologize if its made the reading confusing at some parts, I'm writing this on my phone and copy-pasting via Google Docs, so I'm going to try something different for my page breaks from now on. I'm also going to go back and add them into the old chapters as well! _

_**Seventh-time-lucky**__: Don't worry I promise there is an explanation for why Ron had the Rat in Diagon Alley, he still belongs to Percy for the time being :)_

_As for Remus, only Aurora got a good look at Scabbers before Ron put him in his pocket, while Remus just caught a quick glance. Not long enough to recognize him, but enough to bring back memories of his old friend (who he still thinks is dead at the hands of Aurora's father), I wasn't able to explain that part very well since the story is written in Aurora's POV and she wouldn't know (I had it written in originally but it sounded out of place) _

_I will say that the sad memories are which prompts Remus to buy the chocolate that he shares with Aurora after Ollivanders, since chocolate always makes things better ;) _

_I can't wait for them to find out the truth about Scabbers identity too, that scene is one I really look forward to writing!_

_**Thank you everyone for reading, following, favoriting and reviewing this story, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Feel free to leave a review, I love reading them :)**_

_XXXX_

The morning following the Sorting Ceremony, Katie and I hurriedly headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast, our arms linked together. Hogwarts seemed different in the daytime, as Katie and I skipped through the corridors, the portraits waved at us bidding us "hello" and "good day" as we passed.

Instead of a sky full of stars, the ceiling in the Great Hall was currently sporting the resemblance of a late summer's morning overcast. With only bits of sun peeking out behind the enchanted grey clouds, the hall looked much brighter than it had the previous night.

Only a handful of students had risen early for breakfast that morning, many opting to sleep in, as we had been given the next few days off before the official start of term. The first year Gryffindor's had been informed by Charlie last night that he, along with the other prefects would be conducting tours of the castle later that morning for new students. Help us learn the lay of the land so to speak, so Katie and I had decided to get up early so we wouldn't miss it.

Hogwarts was like a giant maze, what with its many floors and corridors and ever changing staircases, one wrong turn could set you well off course. The last thing I wanted was to get lost during my first weeks of school.

Katie and I sat down near the end of the Gryffindor table and loaded our plates with hot sausages, poached eggs and toast. As we ate our breakfast, Professor McGonagall came by and handed us our timetables. We had discovered last night that she was our Head of House.

"I can't wait for Charms!" Katie exclaimed. "It was my mother's favorite class when she was a student here. What about you Aurora?"

I read over my timetable, and truly had no idea as I had no knowledge of what each class would entail.

"Get back to me at the end of the week on that one yeah?" I said.

"Well what about your parents? What did they say their favorites were?" She asked me.

"I wouldn't know, my foster parents are muggles." I admitted to her, before taking another bite of my toast.

She looked embarrassed, "I'm sorry… I didn't know… I just assumed… since you have a pureblood family name and all..."

She trailed off before I interrupted her, I didn't want her to feel bad.

"It's okay, honestly." I said smiling at her. "If anything I'm most excited about the Flying lessons… and well, Quidditch."

Katie's face lit up as she dove right in "I can not wait for the first match! My father always takes me to at least one match a year. My favorite team is Puddlemere United, but the Holyhead Harpies are a close second! You are going to love flying Aurora! Are you going to go out for the team next year? It's too bad us first years can't join…"

My head was spinning as she spoke at such a rapid pace, I could tell she was a huge fan of the wizarding sport.

"I don't know yet, maybe? I don't really know how it's played… and I never really played sports. I do watch football with my foster dad on the telly sometimes."

Katie looked confused so I said "Football is a muggle sport…" and I explained to her what a television was.

"So they use their feet?" Katie asked. "Sounds not nearly as exciting as Quidditch."

I shrugged, I'm sure in comparison it probably wasn't nearly as exciting.

"Did someone say Quidditch?" The twins asked seemingly appearing out of thin air as they sat down across from us.

They introduced themselves to Katie and the three of them dove into an excited conversation on all things Quidditch. I could just sit and listen in eagerly, trying to gather as much information about the sport as I could.

As they conversed, I tried to my best to find any subtle differences that would help me in telling the twins apart. I noticed that Fred had a slightly rounder face compared to his twin, and George had a small bump on his nose, whereas Fred did not. George winked at me when he caught me staring, and before I turned away I noticed that his eyes slanted downwards when he smiled.

Moments later their friends that I recognized from the train had joined us. A very loud boy with dreadlocks and dark skin squeezed between the twins before immediately piling food onto his plate. Between mouthfuls of pancakes he introduced himself as Lee Jordan.

"You'll have to excuse him, he's part wild animal." A rather pretty girl with shiny black hair and skin the color of milk chocolate said.

"Hey!" Lee protested, and pancake spewed out of his mouth onto his plate.

The taller girl rolled her eyes at him, and her brown eyes met ours, "I'm Angelina Johnson."

Both Katie and I introduced ourselves as the third member of their party, a blonde girl slightly shorter than Angelina introduced herself as Alicia Spinnet.

"We were just telling Katie and Rory here that we're all trying out for the Quidditch team this year." George said smiling.

"Rory?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah… pretty sounding as Aurora is..." George said.

"...we decided it was too much of a mouthful…" said Fred.

"...so we decided on Rory…" added George.

"...much quicker to say…" Fred explained.

"...straight and to the point." They both finished.

"Oh… okay." I said to them, smiling to myself.

One day into Hogwarts and I'd already been given a nickname, I'd never had one of those before. I got the sense that making friends here would be easier than I had thought it would be. The six of us finished eating our breakfast, and before Katie and I took off to meet with Charlie for the school tour, the twins called after us.

"You don't need a ruddy tour to learn this school…" Fred started.

"Yeah, reckon we know this school better than anyone…" added George.

"Come find us when you're ready for the _fun_ tour of the school." Fred added.

"That is if our dear brother Charlie hasn't bored you both to death first!" George finished.

I gave them a mock salute and Katie and I turned, giggling to ourselves as we left the Great Hall.

_XXXX_

The first week and a half of classes came and went, and I had come to the conclusion on several things.

1) Potions was a lot harder than I had originally thought it was going to be, and for some reason Professor Snape seemed to hate my guts.

2) Professor McGonagall was still stern as ever, but an incredible teacher and I was quite enjoying Transfiguration thus far.

3) I'm pretty sure that Professor Weiss, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, was, in fact, a vampire.

4) I absolutely loved the feeling of flying on a broomstick, Madam Hooch even told me I was a natural for someone who'd never flown before.

And 5) Being friends with the Weasley twins brought trouble, not even a full two weeks in and already we had narrowly avoided Mr. Filch and the inevitable detention that would surely follow thrice over!

I was leaving the owlery after sending off my letters to Max and Val, and Remus Lupin, letting them know all about my first week of classes, when midway down the staircase I ran into my friend who looked quite impatient.

"There you are!" Katie exclaimed, grabbing my arm and pulling me along. "Hurry, we don't want to miss it!"

"Oh! Right!" I exclaimed and quickened my pace.

I had completely forgotten about the Quidditch tryouts! Katie and I had decided we would watch them together, to show support for our friends. We ran through the halls, only slowing down once when we spotted the back of Mr. Filch. He glowered at us as we passed him, giving him our most innocent smiles. Once he was out of site we broke out into a run again, giggling until we reached the Quidditch pitch.

It looked like Charlie, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team was giving the new prospects the low-down on how the trials worked. Katie and I quickly climbed the stands and found a spot to sit. Fred had told me that his older brother was the teams Seeker, and that he and George would both be going out for Beaters. Angelina, Alicia and Lee would all be going out for Chasers. Though we couldn't hear what he was saying from where we were seated, high up in the stands, we watched through Katie's binoculars as Charlie brought out a crate containing the three different kinds of balls that were used in the game.

"That ones the Quaffle…" Katie pointed out to me, explaining that it was the Chasers' job to get the Quaffle through the opposing teams hoops, earning their team ten points. "Looks like the majority of the people here are trying out for Chaser."

I nodded at her adding "Alicia was telling me the majority of the team was made up of seventh-years last year, but next year they'll just need a Seeker and a Chaser when Charlie and Lucinda graduate."

"Perfect! Next year you and I can go out for the team!" Katie stated confidently. "Trust me, once you see it in action you'll be sold on it."

"Sure, Katie." I laughed.

Turning my attention back to the pitch, I noticed a rather handsome boy who looked to be a few years older than us, the two of us watched him as he flew up and took position in front of the three oval-shaped rings.

"That's Oliver Wood, he's a fourth-year." Katie said swooning alongside me. "He's been Gryffindor's Keeper since his second-year. Angelina told me that he's a bloody good one at that."

We watched as Charlie divided the prospective Chasers into three groups of three, and he flew up with a clipboard to take notes. Angelina and Alicia were so elegant in their movements, you would think they'd been playing together for years.

Each group re-created the play that he had given them, Lee was paired off with two boys who were in their fifth and sixth year. Compared to two girls, Lee was slightly awkward on his broom, and had failed to catch the Quaffle each time it was tossed to him. Angelina was the first one to get the Quaffle past Oliver Wood, the boy in his sixth year was the second and Alicia the third.

Twenty minutes later Charlie started the tryouts for beaters, and there was only one other Gryffindor, besides Fred and George who was trying out for the position. I kind of felt bad for him, poor bloke didn't stand a chance; the twins had some sort of unspoken connection, each one knowing exactly what move the other was going to make.

"Wow, Fred and George are amazing!" Katie exclaimed.

"I almost feel bad for the other guy." I said. "_Almost._"

The two of burst into laughter, and we watched the rest of the tryouts, sharing Katie's binoculars to get a better look. The beater portion of trials went by a lot quicker than the Chaser portion. Charlie blew his whistle, and proceeded to had them all up into two groups for a mock game minus the Golden Snitch, subbing in the extras every few minutes to get an idea of how each person played. While he himself took on the role of opposing Keeper, he paired Lucinda, a seventh-year, and current Chaser for the team, played Beater with the other boy against Fred and George.

Another half hour or so went by when we suddenly heard a shrill whistle, it was coming from Madam Hooch, signalling to the Gryffindors that their time on the pitch was up. Everyone flew down towards to ground and huddled around Charlie, while Andrew Smith, Captain of Ravenclaw's team entered the pitch with his own prospects.

Hurrying down the stairs we made our way over to our group of friends just as Charlie informed them that the team list would be posted in the Common Room by end of day tomorrow.

"You guys were bloody brilliant!" I exclaimed, hugging Angelina and Alicia.

"Charlie would be mad not to put you on the team." Katie added.

"Hey what about me?" Lee demanded.

"Charlie would be mad to put you _on_ the team." I said, and the group of us burst into laughter while Lee pretended to look hurt before joining in.

"I just choked is all." He explained.

George gave me a look that said "_Yeah sure…"_ and the two of us snickered behind his back.

"You think they'd let me commentate on the games?" Lee asked.

"Can't see why not." Alicia said shrugging as we all headed back towards the castle.

"Yeah Lee, you might be rubbish at Quidditch but if there's one thing you're good at its _talking_." I added.

The Weasley twins keeled over in laughter while the girls all high fived me, and I took off running towards the castle with Lee tailing close behind, threatening to toss me into the Black Lake and feed me to the Giant Squid.

_XXXX_

Time sped by rather quickly it would seem at Hogwarts, despite the never ending homework we received. Katie and I had fit in quite easily with the group of second years, who had all made the Gryffindor Quidditch team, minus Lee of course, big shocker there.

Out of all of them, Katie was easily someone I considered to be my best friend, and I was slowly becoming more comfortable opening up around my new friends. I couldn't remember feeling this happy in a long time, and I was easily settling into my life at Hogwarts. The fears I'd had just before starting school, no longer existed now that I was here.

I thanked my lucky stars for my strong memory, the years of homeschooling and self-sufficiency had come in quite handy with all the homework we were assigned by our Professors. I was still absolute rubbish at Potions, but my essays on Potion theories were always perfect, for some reason I just couldn't grasp the practical part.

Our group of seven were all convinced that Professor Weiss was, in fact a vampire, largely due to the fact that the blinds were always drawn shut in his classroom, it was even darker than the dungeons. Despite that, he was brilliant in his teachings and DADA had easily become one of my favorite subjects next to Transfiguration.

Soon enough, the first two months of school came and went, and we had now reached the end of October. Gryffindor had won their first match of the season against Hufflepuff, and Lee, much to Professor McGonagall's dismay, had hilariously commentated on the match.

On the eve of Halloween, I was sitting in the common room adding the finishing touches to my essay on "_Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration_" for you guessed it, Transfiguration. It wasn't due until next Monday, but I didn't want to leave it to the last minute so I could enjoy my weekend. Unlike my friends, I seemed to be the only non-procrastinator of the bunch, so I often helped them finish their own, otherwise my weekends would be quite lonely.

Fred, George and Lee were sitting on the armchairs across from me, huddled around a piece of parchment and quietly talking amongst themselves. Surely they were brainstorming what to do for their "_annual Halloween prank_". Rolling my eyes at them, I turned my attention back to my paper, giving it a once over before I was completely satisfied.

Alicia, Angelina and Katie sat down next to me and we tried to listen in on the boys conversation, to no avail.

"I can't believe it's Halloween already!" Katie exclaimed.

"Just wait until the feast tomorrow night, it's even better than the Welcome Feast." Angelina said.

I stayed quiet, only throwing in a smile here and there and nodding along to the conversation. Halloween was a hard day for me, it would be my 12th birthday, and the anniversary of my mother's death. Tomorrow would mark 9 years since that night, and I felt a wave of sadness rush over me.

"I think I'm going to head up to bed now, that essay's wiped me right out." I blurted out, and I quickly excused myself.

Katie eyed me suspiciously as I stood up off the armchair and gathered my things. I caught a short glimpse of the concerned expression that the twins threw my way as I passed by them.

"Goodnight." I said to the boys, and I mustered up a small smile, before ducking up the stairs to the dormitories.

_XXXX_

At breakfast the next morning I was quieter than usual, and when Katie asked me if everything was alright, I just said I wasn't feeling that well. She kept eyeing me suspiciously before joining the rest of our group who were debating who they thought would win in the upcoming Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin match.

I ate my meal in silence, and the group was still torn on who the victors would be, arguing that while Smith and his team were smart players, while Flint and the Slytherin team played rough and had no qualms with cheating. Suddenly, a chorus of flapping wings and hoots could be heard from above as the owl post arrived. Two packages were dropped off in front of me by one of the school's barn owls, and my friends watched me curiously as I opened them up.

The first package was wrapped neatly in brown kraft paper, while the second was a little less put together looking. I quickly read the letter attached to the first package before opening it carefully.

_To our dearest Aurora,_

_Happy 12th birthday darling girl! We are sad we can not be there with you today. Since I am unable to bake you a cake this year I sent you some of your favourite goodies instead. I hope you like them, feel free to share with your friends, or hoard them to yourself._

_We miss you terribly, but are happy you are having fun at school, you deserve it._

_Love always,_

_Val & Max_

I smiled to myself as I read Valerie's elegant handwriting. She had always seemed to understand that my birthday was a hard day for me, and she never made a big deal out of the day which I always appreciated. Though she did insist on making me a homemade cake each year since I've been with them, I let her have that.

I pulled the wrappings away to reveal a container of homemade cookies. My smile grew bigger as I opened up the lid and the smell hit my nostrils instantly.

"Oi! What do you have there?!" Lee asked.

I looked up to see all my friends staring at me, well, rather the delicious smelling cookies that sat in front of me.

"Homemade pumpkin snickerdoodles, with cream cheese frosting." I said. "My foster mum made them, they're my favourite!"

I handed the cookies out to my friends and took one for myself. There was a chorus of "Mmmmms…" as everyone had their first bite.

"Wish my mum would send _me _cookies out of the blue!" Lee whined.

"What's in the other package?" George asked.

"Yeah! Spoiled much?" Angelina said jokingly.

I rolled my eyes and tore open the next package. It was a copy of _Quidditch Through The Ages_. When I opened the book an envelope fell out, and smiling I read the note inside.

_Aurora,_

_I am glad to hear that you are enjoying your lessons, pay strong attention in Defence, it is always important to understand how to protect yourself against the Dark Arts. As for your Professor, I have not heard of any vampires by the name of Weiss, perhaps there is another explanation? I trust Albus Dumbledore, and I highly doubt he would put his students at risk by hiring a creature as dangerous as a vampire. _

_In regards to Professor Snape, I am sure he does not hate you, from my memory he was always quite a miserable boy. He was a classmate of mine when I attended Hogwarts you know? We never got on, the whole Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry and all, but he is brilliant in his craft, I'll give the man that. _

_I almost forgot, Happy 12th birthday Aurora. I've been corresponding with Valerie and Max, and they informed me that you don't particularly like to make a big deal about your birthday, I do hope it is alright that I got you a present. I know how much you are interested in Quidditch, and I thought you might like to learn more about the history of the sport itself. I understand how hard today must be for you, for me the memory is still clear as well, just know, your mother would be extremely proud of the young woman you've become. _

_Sincerely _

_Remus Lupin_

My smile faltered slightly as I read Remus' messier scrawl, and I quickly folded the note and shoved it in my robe pocket. Katie grabbed the book, while Lee reached over for another cookie, and I slapped his hand away. Lee pouted dramatically, and rolling my eyes I tossed him another one.

"Who got you the book?" Katie asked me, flipping through the pages.

"Oh, a friend of the family." I answered. "He knew I wanted to learn more I suppose."

"I thought you were raised by muggles?" Katie said.

"Oh, um, well he knew my birth par…" I began to say before suddenly finding myself drenched.

Lee had reached over the table, and knocked over the nearly full pitcher of pumpkin juice in the process. Katie had jumped away in time, but I hadn't seen it coming and the orange liquid had splashed all over my robes and skirt.

"Bloody hell Lee!" I exclaimed, angrily. "If you wanted another bloody snickerdoodle you could've just asked!"

I stood up, shrugging out of my drenched robes and tossed three cookies at his face while he muttered an apology, and I gathered up my things. Turning to Katie I asked her to save my seat in Potions as I was now probably going to be late for my most dreaded class. Why of all days did Lee have to spill pumpkin juice on my robes when Potions was my _first _class of the day? Professor Snape already hated me enough!

"If I get detention from Snape, I swear to Merlin I _will_ Hex you!" I said glaring at him, before storming out of the Great Hall.

XXXX

I walked as fast as my legs would carry me, skipping every second step until I reached the Gryffindor common room. I ran up the steps to my dorm and changed as fast as I could, silently cursing Lee the whole time. Part of me did feel bad for snapping at him, I'd have to apologize for that later.

"Shit!" I exclaimed. '_My Robes, they're still in the Great Hall! Now I'm going to get detention for sure.'_

Stomping down the stairs back into the common room, my shoulders slumped and I felt defeated. As if today wasn't already hard enough, I'd have to add tardiness and detention into the mix. Lost in my frustration I didn't even notice that I wasn't alone in the common room.

"Rory?"

I lifted my head up to see George Weasley standing in the middle of the common room, with my robes in his hands.

"You left these at the table… I dried them for you." He said, holding them out to me.

"Thanks George." I said as I slipped on my now dry robes. "You'll have to teach me that spell."

George smirked and ran a hand through his hair, neither him nor his twin had figured out how I could tell the differences between them. "_Our own mother can't tell us apart sometimes!"_ They had exclaimed, asking me how I figured it out. I told them I was just very observant and paid attention to detail. George held out his hand towards me and I noticed he was holding onto a piece of paper.

"This fell out of your pocket." He said quietly. "Why didn't you tell any of us it's your birthday?"

My face fell into a frown, and I snatched the parchment from his hand. I was annoyed that he had taken it upon himself to read my letter from Remus.

"Sorry I read it… it's just you looked upset when you were reading it at breakfast, and the way you ran off last night… and just _now_… well I worried about you." He admitted. "I didn't tell anyone else."

He was worried about me? I smiled softly at him, I'd never had a friend that worried about me before.

"You know, you can always talk to me about it." George said. "Whenever you're ready of course!" He quickly added.

"Thanks George." I said, then I looked behind him at the clock on the wall. I was officially late for class. "Shit! Now we're both late to class! I'm sorry George, we'll both have detention for sure!"

"Meh, I've got History of Magic right now, Professor Binns won't even notice I'm gone." George said casually, his hands in his pockets.

"Snape will kill me for sure, he already hates me enough." I groaned.

"Well... I _could_ jinx you." George told me, as if it was an obvious solution, and my eyes widened. "Nothing too harsh of course, just enough to send you to the hospital wing, something that's an easy fix. Madam Pomfrey will have you back on your feet by lunch."

"I dunno George…" I said warily.

"It's that or detention from Snape." He said shrugging. "Your call."

"Alright… fine." I hesitantly agreed, he was right, it _would_ beat detention.

George pulled his wand out of his pocket and pointed it at me, but I quickly stopped him.

"Wait! Won't you get in trouble?" I asked him.

"Course not! We just tell Pomfrey that some Slytherin did it, but you didn't get a good look at who it was, and I found you, all knight in shining armour-like." He explained nonchalantly.

He resumed position, and I nodded my head, letting him know I was ready. Closing my eyes, I braced myself for whatever jinx George was about to send my way.

"_Melofors!_" He muttered, and I felt a slight sting on my face.

Opening my eyes I was in complete darkness, and reached to touch my face only to feel something hard, and smooth in its place. I felt anxiety creeping in, and suddenly I was back in that closet, and all I could hear was my mother's screams.

"George! I can't see anything! What did you do to me?" I cried out frantically, waving my arms in front of me as I began to panic.

"Hey hey hey! It's okay! It's just the Pumpkin-head jinx." He said reaching out to me, placing a hand on my arm, and I felt some comfort knowing he was there.

Though his voice sounded almost like a whisper due to the fact that _there was a pumpkin on my head!_

I slowed my breathing which in turn helped slow down my heart rate, the screaming stopped.

'_Relax.'_ I told myself. '_Breathe in. Breathe out. You're in the Gryffindor Common room, you're not in a small space, you're not in the closet, nothing bad is going to happen, it's just a pumpkin over your head. George is here. George is here. You're not alone.'_

I instinctively reached out for his hand, and he gave my hand a squeeze in return.

"I'm sorry George…" I explained, now that I was calm, and I'm sure my voice sounded quite muffled. "I don't do well in small dark spaces."

"Thought it would be believable as a Halloween prank from our rival house." He said, sounding sheepish. "I'm sorry to, Rory. I would've picked another jinx if I'd have known."

I sighed, "It's alright, you didn't know. You're right about it being fitting with the day though, I'll give you that."

There was a moment of awkward silence before our feet began to move as George led me towards the Hospital Wing. He looped his arm around mine, without letting go of my hand as he guided me out of the portrait hole and down the corridors.

"Do you mind me asking why you're afraid of dark spaces?" He asked, sounding unsure.

"Oh… I… umm…"

"S'okay, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He said.

"It's just… today has never been easy for me. My own foster parent's don't even know… I don't like to talk about it, but I'll tell you soon I promise." I told him, as we continued walking, and he didn't press me any further.

I was surprised to discover George's softer side, as along with Fred and Lee, they were quite the rambunctious trio. I don't know how far we had to walk, but soon enough we stopped, and told me we had reached our destination. One thing was for certain, I would feel much better once this pumpkin was off of my head.

I could hear hurried footsteps rapping against the marble floor, coming our way. I could only assume it was Madam Pomfrey, who immediately began to fuss over me. George explained "what happened" while I was led over towards one of the beds and sat down.

"You better get to class Mr. Weasley. I'll explain to Professor Binns why you are tardy, Miss Black is very lucky you found her." She said to George, and I heard her footsteps fade away as she grumbled about students and their silly Halloween pranks.

I felt a hand pat my shoulder, and I thanked George one more time before lying down on the bed.

"Happy birthday by the way." He said softly.

Listening to his footsteps as they faded away, I couldn't help the blush that crept up onto my cheeks, hidden from sight by the large orange Pumpkin.


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: **_I do not own anything Harry Potter related, just my OC Aurora belongs to me._

The pumpkin, had proven to be quite the stubborn thing to remove from my head, so needless to say, Madam Pomfrey did _not _have me back on my feet by lunchtime. She had, however managed to carve out holes in the pumpkin, using her wand, so that I could see and breathe.

I had kindly asked Madam Pomfrey for no visitors, and kept the privacy curtains drawn shut. The last thing I wanted was for my friends to see me in this state, looking like a human jack-O-lantern and what not, the jokes would be _endless._ I was grateful I had asked her to, because around lunchtime, I could hear her shooing away my friends who had tried to come see me.

"No visitors!" She chided, and despite their protests she held strong, eventually they went away when they realized they wouldn't get past her.

Charlie Weasley had stopped by sometime in the afternoon, and she allowed him entry as it was "Prefect business." He respectfully remained behind the curtains to speak with me, which I appreciated. He had stopped by to ask me if I could tell him who had hexed me.

"I don't know…" I lied. "It happened so fast I can't recall any of their faces… I only _just_ made out the Slytherin emblems on their robes. Sorry Charlie."

"It's alright Aurora. If you remember anything let me know, if I have names I can dock points and arrange detentions." He sighed. "Unfortunately I need evidence before I can remove points, as much as I'd like to be able to. Slytherin is smoking us in the points department… and I'd really like to see Gryffindor win the House Cup before I graduate this year."

"I will." I told him.

"I've informed your Professor's of the situation, and Katie Bell has kindly agreed to take notes and share them with you." He said.

"Thank you Charlie." I said sheepishly, feeling slightly guilty for lying.

He wished me a swift recovery and left the Hospital Wing shortly afterwards.

XXXX

Once the pumpkin was _finally_ been dislodged, I let out a huge sigh of relief, but to my dismay the skin on my face had been stained orange. It was as bright as the hair of the boy who put me here, and I decided I would never trust George Weasley again.

"_Next time I'll just take the bloody detention." _I thought to myself.

It was well past dinner by the time Madam Pomfrey would dismiss me, and I was starving, all I'd had since breakfast was the nasty potion she had given me to help the orange colour drain from my face.

"Sorry dear. The potion is less effective when mixed with food." She had explained when I had asked yet again, for something, _anything_, to eat.

When I arrived back in the common room, my friends immediately fretted over me. Lee Jordan had engulfed me in such a tight hug I could barely breathe, while the others swore to get their revenge on the Slytherins.

George's gaze met mine, he gave me a wink and I squinted my eyes at him in a glare. He simply shrugged in response and I tried my hardest not to break out into a smile, looking back, the situation _was_ kind of funny.

Katie, thankfully, had thought to bring up a plate of dinner for me, which had been charmed to stay warm.

Once I had eaten, I found a spot in the common room to start in on the homework that had been assigned by the classes I missed that day. While the others began to trickle up the stairs to bed, I remained seated, nose deep in my Potions textbook, determined to finish the essay in time for tomorrow's lesson.

Just as I was about three-quarters of the way through my essay, I felt the seat next to me sink down. I looked up to find George holding out a chocolate cupcake towards me.

"Happy birthday." He said.

"Thank you…" I said quietly, blushing as I took a bite of the decadent treat.

I thought it was sweet, that he remembered how much I liked chocolate.

"Least I could do, I did trap you inside a pumpkin after all." He said shrugging.

"Yes, I was beginning to feel quite like the headless horseman." I told him, though he looked confused. "It's… a Muggle story."

"Ah." He said.

We sat together in silence while I ate the cupcake he had brought me, and I wondered just how he had acquired one so late at night.

"Where'd you get the cupcake?" I asked him.

"It's an exclusive secret." George told me, giving me one of his famous winks.

If I didn't know him, I'd think he had a condition that caused him to twitch his eye as often as he did.

"Well, it _is_ my birthday. Perhaps you can share it with me?"

"Hmm… I suppose I can share it with you. I'll have to run it by Fred first." He said, stroking his chin in thought.

I raised an eyebrow at him, and he got up shrugging.

"I told you. It's exclusive, we can't have just anyone knowing. Sorry _Pumpkin_." He said, as he began to walk towards the stairs leading to the boys dormitories.

"_Wingardium Leviosa!" _I huffed, swishing my wand I sent one of the couch cushions flying at his head, but he ducked out the way and the cushion bounced off the wall, landing on the ground with a soft thud.

"Oi! Now that wasn't very nice!" He called, holding back laughter.

"You mock me! Next time it will be a textbook!" I called after him, sheepishly.

"_Once I can levitate heavier items that is…" _I thought to myself, but I wouldn't share that bit with him.

"You may want to work on your aim first." He laughed as he started up the stairs. "Night, _Pumpkin_!"

He disappeared from my sight, and deciding I would get up early and finish my potions essay in the morning, I closed my textbook shut. Huffing, I gathered my things and headed up to my own dormitory, where I found Katie already fast asleep. Changing into my nightclothes, I headed to our shared bathroom to brush my teeth and take my hair out of its ponytail. Crawling into my bed and turning about until I was comfortable, I closed my eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep.

XXXX

Two weeks later, I was working on homework in the Gryffindor Common Room. I had been studying in the library until Madam Pince gave me the boot, as it was nearly curfew. There were only a handful of students remaining in the common room, as most had already trickled off to bed.

Percy Weasley, the twin's older brother sat diagonally across from me, working on his own essay. Aside from the two of us, there was a pair of sixth-year boys deeply engrossed in a game of Wizard's Chess. Percy, I had learned, was often the target of Fred and George's many pranks, much to the older Weasley's dismay.

Whenever Charlie Weasley had to step in to diffuse the situation, which often ended with Percy storming off, threatening to write to their mother, Fred and George would defend that they were "_Just trying to loosen him up, tightly wound as he is."_

"_Merlin help Percy next year when I'm not here to keep the peace." _Charlie would say, shaking his head at the mischievous duo. Though, he would often be holding back his own laughter, he wouldn't admit it outloud, but I could tell he agreed with his younger brothers.

Percy, compared to his brothers, was quite studious, albeit slightly, okay, more than slightly, pompous, and I understood why the twin's would refer to him as a "_bigheaded git_".

I was broken from my thoughts as I heard a familiar loud hissing sound, and the scurrying of feet.

"_MRRROOOWWW" _Came the loud miaow from my kitten Salem, who was no longer a tiny little ball of fluff, as he was now slightly bigger than when I had adopted him a few months prior.

Looking up, I felt my stomach drop as I watched Salem pouncing on the table that Percy was working at, knocking over his ink bottle and spilling it all over the parchment he'd been writing on. A look of horror crossed over my face, and I shot up, running to grab him as he was now clawing and hissing at Percy's robes.

Percy, his face red with anger was frantically trying to get my cat off of him.

"Salem! No!" I hollered. "Bad kitty! Bad!"

I quickly scooped Salem up in my arms, holding onto him tightly as he was struggling against me, desperately trying to launch himself back at Percy.

"_Salem!_" I hissed at him, in a whisper. "_Back upstairs you go, or NO treats for a month!"_

He responded with a low growl, but ultimately hopped out of my arms, and sending one last hiss in Percy's direction bounded off up the stairs.

"Percy, I am so so sorry! I don't know what got into him!" I cried, my cheeks burning red, and I noticed his piece of parchment which was covered in black ink. "Oh your essay! He's ruined it! I'm so sorry, let me help you clean this up."

Percy let out an exasperated sigh and, with a wave of his wand, the ink cleared itself up and his essay looked as it had before, as if the bottle had never spilled.

"It's alright." He said, letting out an annoyed huff, though his face was slightly less red. "I always charm my parchment with a protective spell, I've learned the hard way a few too many times."

He explained the last part through gritted teeth, and I knew exactly why.

"Ah, Fred and George?" I asked, to which Percy nodded stiffly. "I promise it won't happen again, I really don't know what got into Salem just now."

It was then that I noticed the back of a rodent's tail sticking out of Percy's robe pocket, and I came to the realization that was probably what Salem had been chasing after.

"_Strange…"_ I thought. "_Salem usually leaves pets well enough alone… hmm… this one must've got on his nerves."_

There were a couple other students in Gryffindor tower that had rats as their pets, and Salem had never tried to attack them before. I shrugged it off, however, Salem had proven to be quite the mischievous little feline, just as the shopkeeper had warned me, and perhaps, this rat had irked him somehow.

"Your family must really like rats." I pointed out.

"_Great, now you just sound stupid." _I thought, mentally slapping myself.

"Hmm?" Percy said, looking up at me with a confused expression.

"Your brother Ron… he er, he has one too doesn't he? I saw him with one in Diagon Alley." I explained.

"Oh." He said, pulling the rodent out of his pocket.

It was then I recognized the same beady eyes from Diagon Alley staring up at me, and I shuddered. I was never fond of the creatures, but this one in particular gave me the heebie jeebies, something in the way it was watching me, like it was trying to figure me out.

"No, no, no, this is Scabbers." Percy explained. "He's mine. I had a few too many errands to run in Diagon Alley that day. My mother was taking Scabbers to the Menagerie on my behalf because I wouldn't have had any time to do it myself."

My mouth formed the "o" shape, and I didn't know why, but I was curious about the animal, and couldn't stop myself as I stood there awkwardly.

"Umm.. how long have you had er Scabbers was it?" I asked.

The rat really did look like it was on its last legs.

"He was a present for my first year at Hogwarts." Percy answered, organizing his papers.

"Why a rat? Why not ask for an owl." I asked, cringing at myself.

"_Shut up Aurora!" _I told myself.

Percy glared slightly at me, and I could tell I was more than likely annoying him.

"I'll have you know that rats are considered to be quite intelligent creatures. You know muggles use them quite often in research, as they are quite smart and easily trained." He told me.

"Sorry… I don't mean to judge… I just, find rodents creepy is all." I said, and Scabbers perked his head up at me.

The rat almost looked like it was… offended? Shaking my head, I told myself I was probably just seeing things.

"Well… not everyone can appreciate them now can they?" Percy scowled, his eyes rolling behind his horn-rimmed glasses, and he quickly gathered up his things. "If you excuse me, I'm going to head off to bed, besides Scabbers seems to be pretty shaken up from his _attack._"

"Oh, okay. G'night Percy." I said merrily, and headed back to my spot, relieved he was leaving. I had started the conversation, but had no idea how to end it.

"Do keep your cat _away _from Scabbers please Aurora." He huffed, and headed up the stairs.

"Yeesh… Fred and George are right… he _is_ a big-headed git." I whispered to myself returning to my own homework.

Suddenly two figures appeared at the table before me, and I lifted my head to see Fred and George with wide grins on their faces.

"_That_. Was bloody brilliant!" They exclaimed laughing.

"The look on Percy's face!" George exclaimed.

"Priceless!" said Fred. "We may have to borrow that cat of yours Rory."

"He seems quite keen for mischief." George laughed.

I rolled my eyes at them, before erupting into a fit of giggles, laughing along with them.

"It was quite funny, now that I think of it." I chuckled, replaying the moment back in my head.

"We have come to the decision…" said Fred.

"...to share one our most _exclusive_ secrets with you…" added George.

"...if you'll please follow us." Fred said, grabbing me by the arm and leading me to the portrait hole.

I dropped his arm quickly.

"Are you both mad? It's well past curfew, we'll get caught!" I exclaimed, crossing my arms.

"Dear Rory, _we…_" George said, pointing to the both of them. "...do not get caught."

"Yeah, it's about time you learn we know this school like the back of our hands." Fred said, crossing his own arms, mocking my stance.

"Fine!" I said. "But if we get detention over this, I'll never trust the likes of you again."

"That's your first mistake right there Miss Black." George said. "Trusting us."

Fred and George laughed and I followed them through the portrait hole, shaking my head at them. They led me through the corridors, and down several flights of stairs, ducking behind tapestry's a couple times when we spotted Filch's horrid cat, Mrs. Norris wandering the halls. Eventually we reached a portrait of a fruit bowl.

"Fancy a midnight snack Pumpkin?" George asked, winking.

Punching his arm lightly t the nickname he'd given me after the Halloween incident, he chuckled and Fred just rolled his eyes, pushing past us he reached out his hand and tickled the painting, the pear in particular.

I jumped back as the portrait started giggling, and swung aside allowing us entry.

"Welcome to the kitchens!" The twins exclaimed once we were inside.

"Wow…" I said looking around, hearing the portrait swing shut behind us.

There were four long tables, arranged exactly like the tables in the Great Hall, and I came the realization that this must have been how the food magically appeared on our tables at mealtimes.

"_They must be charmed…" _I thought to myself as I took in my surroundings.

Suddenly there was a _*pop*_ sound, and a small creature, that barely reached my knees appeared. It wore what looked like rags, and had rather large ears. It looked up at us with glossy green eyes the size of tennis balls.

"Hello Misters Weasley!" It exclaimed, rather excitedly, bowing its head at the twins. "Who is the Missus?"

"Hello Lolly." The twins greeted the creature in unison. "This is our friend Rory."

"It is Lolly's pleasure to meet you Missus Rory!" Lolly said, bowing her head to me. "What can I get you? Anything you like!"

"Just our usual please Lolly." Fred answered for them both.

"Oh… I'll have the, um... same. Please and thank you Lolly." I said, when she looked up at me.

She bowed her head and disappeared with a _*pop*_ and I turned to the twins.

"What is…" I started.

"House-elves." They answered.

"Most well-off pureblood families have them in their homes, but I reckon there must be hundreds that work here at Hogwarts." George explained.

"We've only met a few… most of them are sleeping by the time we get here." Fred added.

Lolly re-appeared suddenly, with three plates carrying treacle tarts and cream, and placed them before us. With a snap of her finger, three teacups full of steaming hot tea appeared out of thin air, slowly lowering themselves down to the table.

"Thank you Lolly." We all said and the elf bowed once more before disappearing. Leaving us to indulge in our midnight treats.

XXXX

A second helping of the sweet pastry and three cups of tea later, we realized we had severely lost track of the time. Saying our goodbyes to Lolly the house elf, we left the kitchens and started our long journey back to Gryffindor tower.

"Bloody mad that Godric Gryffindor was, sticking us so high up the castle." Fred grumbled after the fifth flight of stairs.

"Could be worse, at least it's not in the dungeons." I offered shrugging, and his grumbled in agreement.

I knew what he meant though, a belly full of sweets did not mix well with all the staircases we had to climb. Not to mention it was quite late, it was nearly two hours past curfew. I let out a yawn, feeling all of a sudden quite tired, and could not wait to sink into my cushy bed.

"Miaow." We heard from behind us, and the three of us slowly turned around to see the form of the caretakers menacing cat run off and around the corner.

"Bollocks!" Fred seethed. "Its Filch's ruddy cat!"

"_Run!" _George whispered, grabbing me by the arm and dragging me along with the two of them.

"What's that Mrs. Norris? Spotted students out of bed have we?" We heard the old caretaker say. "Show me the way."

"_What do we do?"_ I whispered, as we rounded another corner.

"Looks like you get to see another secret of ours tonight Rory." said Fred as he pulled out an old looking piece of parchment.

He tapped his wand to the paper and muttered "_I solemnly swear I am up to no good."_

Slowly, I watched as lines and words appeared on the paper, it read "The Marauders Map", Fred quickly unfolded it, opening up the parchment to reveal what appeared to be a map of Hogwarts.

I stood on my tiptoes and peering over George's shoulder, I could see that it also revealed everyone's whereabouts in the castle. Spotting our three names, and Filch's not far behind my eyes widened. I didn't have time to ask them, let along wonder how they had gotten this magical map.

"_Guys, he's on our tail!_" I whispered urgently.

"Quite right you are Rory. Hmm, this way, hurry." Fred said leading the way.

We rounded a few more corners, running down a long corridor, and we could hear Filch calling after us. His voice sounded quiet so we knew we were far enough ahead of him to take a short break and come up with a plan.

We slowed down, to look at the map once more and I paced nervously in place while the twins huddled over the map. They were quietly arguing amongst themselves, trying to decide on the best route that would lead us back to the Gryffindor tower, and get Filch off our backs.

"You guys!" I exclaimed smacking them on the shoulders to get their attention. "Look!"

I pointed as a door, that I swear had not been there before, suddenly appeared right before our eyes. Fred and George looked down at the map once more.

"I've never seen this room before." whispered George.

"It's not on the map either." said Fred.

Filch's footsteps got closer, and we looked down at the map to see that he was just around the corner from us.

"Right then. No time." George muttered, pulling open the door handle and pushing both Fred and I inside.

It was a broom cupboard, that we had stumbled across, it was dark, and small, I gulped nervously.

I could feel the darkness closing in around me, feeling like the walls were closing in, and I needed to get out. Curling my hands into fists, I tried to steady my breathing, just like Val had taught me to do a long time ago.

Silently, I began counting down from 100, and I closed my eyes. I felt a pang in my chest because the moment my eyes were shut, I could see my mother's face before me.

My stomach lurched, and I could feel my palms beginning to get clammy. I released my fists and my heart thudded harder and harder, as if it were trying to escape my chest, when suddenly the sounds of screaming started. I felt like I was burning up, and could feel that my face was wet. Whether it was from sweat or tears, I couldn't tell, all I knew was that I needed to get the hell out of the broom cupboard.

What was probably only minutes, felt like hours. There was a flash of green light, and I felt myself falling forwards, but I did not meet the ground.

Two arms caught me, and I heard a familiar voice whispering.

"Rory… Rory… are you alright? Fred!" It was George.

"_Lumos!"_

Suddenly the room was illuminated with light from Fred's wand, and through blurry vision I could just make out Fred's figure peering down at the map.

"Filch is gone, back down towards the Charms wing." He said. "Let's go, quickly."

Moving on autopilot, George held me steady as we exited the broom cupboard and entered the hallway, I felt some relief being back out in the open.

George turned to face me, putting his hands on my shoulders and leveled his head with mine. A look of realization crossed his face, and he looked at his brother.

"Bloody hell Rory!" Fred exclaimed, stepping behind his brother and taking in my appearance. My head snapped up at him. "You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"You alright Rory?" George asked me calmly.

Snapping out of my stupor, and feeling suddenly nauseous, I took off in a run. I could hear their footsteps chasing after me, and despite the fact that I was a head shorter than the pair, I was quite fast on my feet. I didn't stop running until I reached the portrait of the Fat Lady

"My goodness, do you have any idea what time it is?!" The fat lady scolded me as I approached.

Ignoring her, I muttered the password and she swung open for me. I could hear her mumbling something about manners as I crawled through the portrait hole. Spotting my homework still sitting on one of the tables, I ran over to it, gathering it up as quickly as I could.

Fred and George entered several seconds later, panting, just as I had picked up the last of my books.

"Rory… what's wrong?" Fred asked sounding worried.

They both looked concerned, and I suddenly realized just how vulnerable I had been in front of them moments ago. I had let them see me at a low point, and suppressed the tears that were threatening to fall.

My cheeks felt hot, and as hard as I tried not to, hot tears started to roll down my cheeks.

Forgetting about the fun and laughs we'd shared in the kitchens, all I could think about was what had happened in the broom cupboard, and all I could feel was embarrassment.

"J-just...just stay away from me." I sniffed, backing away from them, I didn't want them to see me this way.

Once I reached the stairway, I bounded up the steps as fast as I could. The twins tried to follow after me, but as soon as they made it up halfway, the stairs turned into a steep slide underneath their feet and they went tumbling back to the bottom.

"Forgot about that." I heard one of the twins mumble, groaning.

"What the bloody hell was that about?!" The other exclaimed, just as I closed the door to my dorm room behind me.

Thankfully, Katie was fast asleep, I did not have the energy to explain where I had been, nor the reason for my current state of being.

Quietly I walked over to my bed and placed my books down on the small end table. As I stood straight, the nauseous feeling returned, and I beelined towards the bathroom, emptying the contents of my stomach into the toilet bowl.

Standing up straight, feeling suddenly better I made my way towards the sinks. A rather frazzled looking girl, her hair frizzy and wild, with red-rimmed eyes stared back at me in the mirror.

Analyzing my reflection, I could see what Fred had meant when he said I looked like I'd seen a ghost. My skin, which was already quite fair, was even whiter than usual, and my cheeks were stained red from the tears that left my eyes looking puffy.

I glared at my reflection and turned the faucet, splashing my face with ice cold water until my face felt numb.

I readied myself for sleep, and crawled into my bed. Drawing the curtains shut, I shuddered at the darkness and quickly grabbed my wand.

"_Lumos_." I whispered, casting a glow, and I lay my wand beside me as if it were a nightlight.

At the foot of the bed, I spotted Salem's sleeping form and heard his light purring, which gave me some comfort.

My head was pounding, and my eyelids began to feel heavy. Lowering my head down onto my pillow I closed my eyes, but as soon as I did, all I could hear was screaming… my mother's screams.

Sitting up straight, and too scared to close my eyes again, lest the screaming continue, I decided I would stay up and finish the homework I had abandoned to go to the kitchens with the Weasley twins.

"_Fred and George…" _I thought, feeling guilty for how I'd acted. "_...Ugh! How am I ever going to face them?"_

Grabbing my things from the desk, I muttered a silencing charm around my bed, so as not to wake up my dorm mate, and set to work on my Charms homework.

I knew sleep would not come to me tonight, and I was too afraid to try.

**A/N: **_I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next one should be up in the next week or so. _

_Please leave a review, I love hearing your thoughts, they motivate me to keep going and write/edit my chapters faster ;)_

_Until next time_

_-Buttercup _


	9. Chapter 8

I don't remember falling asleep, but at some point I must have. I could hear my name being called repeatedly, and slowly my eyes peeled open to see Katie Bell hovering above me, relentlessly shaking me in my bed. The light that shone through the window caused me to squint, and I blinked several times to adjust to the brightness.

"You look like hell." Katie stated, arms crossed and her brows furrowed with concern.

"I… I'm not feeling so great." I said, my voice hoarse.

"Have anything to do with your late night gallivanting the castle with the twins?" She pressed, eyebrow raised.

My face felt hot, and suddenly it all came back to me. My heart began to race, I cleared my throat and shook my head, I couldn't possibly explain what had happened to me last night when I had barely had time to comprehend it myself.

"No. I stayed up late to finish my homework afterwards… and I just couldn't fall asleep." I shrugged.

It was partly true, I _had _stayed up to finish it, but it was only because I knew I wouldn't be able to fall asleep. I needed to keep my mind occupied on other things so it didn't stray to what I'd heard inside my head back in the broom closet.

"Well that was stupid! We don't have anything due until next week!" She said, arms crossed. "C'mon, get up… we won't have time for breakfast if you don't hurry your arse up!"

Katie pulled my blankets off without warning and I sent a glare her way as the cool air rushed over me. I did, however, get up out of the comfort of my four-poster bed, albeit very begrudgingly. My head felt heavy when I stood, and the floor felt cold underneath my bare feet.

I reached for my wand, which lay next to my pillow, still lit from the charm I had used the previous night. Salem still lay curled up, purring away, so I did my best not to disturb him.

My feet began to move forward, though it felt like my head seemed to remain in the same place. Step by step until I reached the bathroom, as if I were on autopilot, and when I looked up, I startled at the sight of my reflection.

A stranger was looking back at me, with wild frizzy hair, and dark circles under her eyes. It was me, but unlike I've ever seen myself before. Katie was right, I did look like hell, speaking of...

"Go ahead without me…" I called out to her.

"You sure?" Came Katie's concerned voice from behind the closed bathroom door.

"Yeah… I just need to wake myself up a bit… I'll catch up with you…" I said.

"Okay…" She said, though she still sounded unsure.

Eventually she decided to head down to breakfast on her own, and I waited until I could hear her retreating footsteps leave our dorm. Once the door clicked shut I turned the faucet in the showers, and waited for it to get hot.

My first class of the day, Herbology, wasn't for another forty minutes or so. If I hurried, I would make it just in time, though with how long it would take me to get from Gryffindor tower, to the Great Hall then to the Greenhouses… well, I would have to skip breakfast.

"_I should've asked Katie to grab me a muffin… shoot." _I thought.

The room was filled with steam, and I breathed it all in as I stepped into the scalding water.

Scalding water trailed down my back, as I scrubbed myself clean, my skin was pink from the heat of the water combined with being rubbed almost raw. Soapy water pooled around my feet as I rinsed the shampoo out of my hair. I watched it as it disappeared down the circular drain, glaring at it and willing the painful memories to disappear down with it. As if it would help me forget, but as hard as I tried, I couldn't forget.

XXXX

It had happened once before, a long time ago, when I was around six, nearly seven, I can't remember the exact year. I'd been placed with a family that had two children of their own. Their son was two years younger than I was at the time, and their daughter was older than me by several months. I think I had been with them, five, maybe six weeks?

Though the children hadn't always been kind to me in the families I'd been placed with over the years, this pair of siblings often allowed me to play with them. Of course I relished in the opportunity to play, and that particular day we had been playing a game of hide-and-go-seek; we played all afternoon.

During the seventh round, maybe, eighth, I can't remember, I came across a small door underneath the staircase. I can remember thinking I'd found the jackpot of all hiding places, surely they wouldn't find me in there, however, as soon as I shut the small door I realized it was anything but.

It was dark, and cramped. Worst of all, when I went to turn the knob to get out, the door wouldn't budge. There was no light that I could turn on, and I could feel the darkness closing in on me.

That's when the screaming started. Just the same as I had heard the previous night inside the broom closet with Fred and George. My mother's screams. Horrible memories playing over and over in my head as the panic sunk in and I cried for help.

I can remember pounding on the door, calling out for anyone to let me out, it felt like hours, but nobody came for me. With one final pound, the door swung open, bursting off the hinges, and landing halfway across the hall with a thud. Simultaneously, a loud crashing sound could be heard echoing across the house. Screams of terror from its occupants followed as all the glass windows shattered, and glass photo frames fell to the ground with a crash, the shards scattering everywhere.

Linda was there to pick me up before night fall.

I don't remember any of their names, but none of them would so much as look me in the eye when I left, with my small bag of clothes, and Mr. Snuffles tucked under my arm. I'd been with them just over a month, and they couldn't even look at me. As if I were a monster.

Of course, back then I didn't truly understand that it was _me _that had caused those things to happen. I was just a normal kid, who had strange things happen to her at the worst of times. It was always when I was feeling an extreme emotion; anger, sadness, fear... and whenever those things happened, Linda was there to take me away. Over, and over, again.

Valerie and Max, my foster parents who I'd lived with for the past few years, had helped teach me several methods to calm myself down. They were the only ones who never tossed me aside when something strange would happen, of course when I had turned 11, I learned why. They were familiar with the wizarding community as Valerie's older brother Brandon was a wizard, and they'd had their suspicions about my magical ability from the start.

It didn't help me last night, however, as soon as I realized I was in a small dark space it was as if I couldn't control anything. Surprisingly, nothing exploded, no glass shattered, and no doors were blown off the hinges. Maybe it was because I wasn't alone?

Fred and George were there after all, even if for a moment, I forgot they were. Or maybe, it was because I'd been learning how to control my magic since being at Hogwarts. When I was younger, I didn't know I had magic _to_ control.

I stayed in the shower until the water turned ice cold and I began to feel numb. Shivering, I decided it was time to step out, I'd already spent too long in the showers. The faucet creaked as I turned it off, and all that could be heard in the silent bathroom was the sound of dripping water.

I quickly dried myself off, using the same Hot-Air-Charm that George had used to dry my robes after the "pumpkin-juice incident" on Halloween. Five minutes later I was dressed and darting out of Gryffindor common room with my books in hand. Hurrying down the stairs and through the corridors, I did not stop until I reached Greenhouse One, where most students were already waiting for class to begin.

XXXX

"Good morning class." Professor Sprout addressed us as she entered the greenhouse just moments after I took my seat next to Katie.

There was a chorus of "_Good morning Professor Sprout." _'s as the students responded.

Professor Sprout eagerly took her place at the front of our class, where a blackboard awaited her.

She was quite a squat little witch, short and stout like a little teapot; her face reminded me of one of those Cabbage Patch dolls you can find at Hamleys. You could just see her wavy grey hair sticking out from underneath her patchy hat. Her clothes and fingers often caked with dirt only proved that she was the right witch for this job.

When it came to magical flora, Professor Sprout knew anything and everything. Herbology wasn't my favorite subject, however, Professor Sprout's enthusiasm was often infectious, and I couldn't help but be just as eager; on a normal day, today was not normal. She turned to us with a bright smile, displaying her slightly crooked teeth, and with a wave of her wand a diagram of a vine-like plant appeared on the blackboard behind her.

"Today…" she started.

"_Psst." _Katie whispered beside me.

"... we will be covering Devil's Snare." Professor Sprout continued.

I turned my head to Katie, who scooted her chair closer to me as quietly as she could.

"_Where were you at breakfast?" _Katie asked in a hurried whisper. "_I waited for you as long as I could…"_

"...uses its tendrils to ensnare anyone who comes into direct contact with it, binding…" I shrugged at Katie as Professor Sprout continued her lecture.

I tried to ignore Katie's concerned stare from my side as I took notes.

"_What happened? Fred and George are really worried you know? They think they did something wrong..."_

"...harder a person struggles, the tighter and faster it binds them." Professor Sprout had narrowed her eyes in our direction as she spoke.

"... if the victim is able to remain calm, and relaxed, _Miss Bell,_ the Devil's Snare will loosen its grip…"

Katie sat up straighter at the sound of her name.

"Now, can anyone tell me the kind of environment that Devil's Snare prefers to dwell in?" She asked.

Only a few hands shot up. I knew the answer, I had already read about it, but I didn't have the energy to raise my hand.

"Miss Chang." Professor Sprout beamed.

"Devil's Snare is known to thrive in dark, damp areas, however when it's exposed to bright lights, it will stop its movement entirely." Cho answered in her soft Irish accent.

"Excellent, Miss Chang! 10 points to Ravenclaw!" Professor Sprout clapped. "Now… as well as keeping still in a bright environment, Devil's Snare will recoil from the heat of fire." She explained.

"_Rory!"_ Katie whispered. "_What is going on? You're acting weird."_

"_I'm fine!" _I whispered back.

"Miss Black, Miss Bell, is there something you'd like to share?" Professor Sprout asked sternly, causing our classmate to turn their heads in our direction.

"No Professor. Sorry Professor." We quickly said in sync.

"In that case, try to pay attention. Any more interruptions and I will be forced to dock points from Gryffindor." She said seriously.

Both Katie and I sat up straighter, and our fellow Gryffindors, including the obnoxious Cormac McLaggen turned to glare at us for almost losing more points. With the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan losing points at least twice a week minimum, Gryffindor was almost in last place.

Professor Sprout kept a watchful eye on us for the remainder of the lesson as she discussed the incantations of the Fire-Making Spell. We broke off into groups to practice the charm, and at the end of the class, Professor Sprout assigned us a two-foot essay on the "Uses of Devil's Snare by Witches and Wizards throughout History."

A two foot essay about a bloody plant? This would be fun. Not. Judging by the groans from my fellow classmates, I could tell they shared the same sentiment.

XXXX

At lunch, I ate quietly and despite skipping breakfast, I didn't feel all that hungry. I did my best to ignore the whispers and concerned stares from my friends, and I avoided the twins entirely. Part of me felt guilty, and like I owed them an explanation, yet I just couldn't muster up the courage to face them. So much for being a brave Gryffindor...

What would my friends think of me? When they learned the truth about my family history? When they learned my father was a convicted mass murderer? Surely they would want nothing to do with me… no, it was much easier to keep quiet, no matter how much it was eating away at me.

As soon as I finished my half sandwich, I stood and exited the Hall without a word. My next class was History of Magic, if I got there early enough I could get a spot in the back, and rest my pounding head for a bit, not that Professor Binns would notice either way.

"Rory, wait up!" Came the voice of one of the Weasley twins.

I slowed down, hanging my head in shame, feeling awful for ignoring their questions at lunch. They caught up with me, walking on either side of me.

"Rory… we're really sorry." George said.

"It's okay…" I said quietly. "You two have nothing to be sorry for."

"You can talk to us you know…" Fred added.

"I know… I'm just claustrophobic is all." I explained, keeping it simple. "Just a little shaken up about it, I'll be fine."

They didn't look too convinced, but left it for now, and we walked in silence until I reached the History of Magic classroom. I thanked them for accompanying me, and stepped through the open door.

"Reckon there's more to it George?" I heard Fred say to his counterpart.

"Mhmm." George agreed with his brother.

I sighed. One day, I would tell them, it just wouldn't be today, it couldn't be. I had enjoyed having friends for once in my life, and I wasn't ready to lose them yet. The fears I'd had before the start of term began to creep back up, nestling into the back of my head.

Slumping into a seat at the back corner of the classroom, I cradled my head in my arms on the wooden table and drifted off to sleep.

XXXX

The next couple weeks went by more or less the same, as I was plagued by nightmares. Each night I crawled into bed, drew the curtains shut, and whispered a silencing charm so Katie could not hear me. At some point, each night, I would wake up drenched in cold sweat and panting.

It was always the shrill scream, and the flash of green light, followed by a sinister cackle that woke me up. The laugh is what disturbed me the most, as whoever had cast the killing curse had enjoyed doing it; killing my mother.

I'd have a cold shower every morning to wake myself up, and I did my best to act like nothing was wrong, that it was just the schoolwork that was getting to me. My friends were starting to notice my change in demeanour, however, and it wasn't long before they began to suspect there was more to it.

Mealtimes, I was quiet, nodding along silently, and only speaking up here and there. I ate only enough for my comrades to leave me alone, my stomach was often in knots as I was in a constant state of anxiety, and felt like I couldn't keep much down.

I began dozing off in several of my classes, but Katie was there to make sure I stayed awake before a Professor would notice and give me detention, or dock points from our house. In turn, I started to fall behind in my school work, and when I was inclined to do homework, I would do it alone, in my dormitory.

I stayed away from the common room as much as possible, avoiding my friends made me feel guilty, and I found it hard to be around them. If I hadn't already ruined the first real friendships I'd made, my family secret surely would. I couldn't risk letting it slip.

We were two weeks into December now, and all I had to do was make it to Christmas. Surely going home to Val and Max for the holidays would help, then maybe I would come back refreshed? Maybe, it would be as if nothing had ever happened?

My reflection changed over the weeks, my face became more gaunt, and dark circles found a permanent home beneath my eyes, which were quite red-rimmed these days. My lips were dry and cracked, and my fair skin was beginning to look quite pallid, rather than the smooth porcelain.

I met Katie in the common room and we headed down to breakfast together.

"Merlin Ror" Katie said. "Are you feeling okay? You're looking paler than usual…"

"I'm fine Katie, really." I said quietly. "I think I must have a bug or something."

I knew it wasn't. It was the sleepless nights, anxiety, and lack of proper nutrition that was eating away at me. Last night's nightmare had been the worst. Each night, the face of my mother's murderer had been a blur, but last night, I had dreamed it was my father doing the evil deed. I wondered if it was true? Had my father been so blindly loyal to Lord Voldemort that he would kill his own wife, the mother of his child? No, it couldn't have been him… could it have? He'd kill thirteen people already, and was the reason Harry Potter was an orphan, James had been his best friend from what Remus had told me. So why couldn't it be possible that he killed his own wife? I had woken up with burning hatred for the man, he was no father of mine.

"Maybe you should go to the Hospital Wing." Katie suggested.

"Really. It's nothing." I said through gritted teeth.

"I don't think it's _nothing_." Katie snapped, causing me to freeze in place.

"Sorry… I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just… we're all worried about you Aurora. We're your friends… if something's going on you can talk to us." Her voice softened.

I felt a sharp pain in my stomach region, and I knew it was the guilt I'd felt building up these past few weeks, and it was eating away at me. The dark cloud that followed me around daily used that guilt as fuel, and I knew if I reached out then maybe, just maybe, the dark cloud would leave me alone… but I couldn't bring myself to it.

"I think I just went a little hard on the school work Katie…" I lied. "I… just feel a little run down in all, put too much pressure on myself you know."

"I don't buy that excuse anymore Aurora." She said, glaring at me.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, for someone I had only known for a few months, she sure could read me like a book.

"Fred and George told me what happened." She told me.

"I'm claustrophobic okay!" I snapped, and began to walk faster, away from her. "That's all that happened! It's done! It has nothing to do with what's going on!"

"Well, it seems strange to me that immediately afterwards you've been acting strange!" She argued, matching my pace. "You're falling asleep in class! You're _barely _eating! You're probably barely sleeping at night! And you avoid us all like we're the plague!"

I stopped and turned to face her. Several students in the hallway stopped as well, turning to watch the drama going on between the two first year Gryffindors, whispering to each other.

"Aurora… I'm your best friend." Katie pleaded softly, trying to calm the situation. "You can talk to me."

"Just stop it!" I shouted, my eyes brimming with tears. "You barely even know me! Please just leave it alone… leave _me_ alone!"

I stepped forward, but as I did I began to feel dizzy. When my foot connected with the ground, I could feel my legs give out underneath me, and just before everything went black I heard Katie shouting my name.

XXXX

Groaning, and head pounding I sat up, using my hands to push myself up of the floor. Only, it wasn't the hard floor of the corridor, this surface was much softer, and plush. I opened my eyes, and realized I was in the Hospital Wing.

"A-ha. Miss Black, welcome back." Came a soft voice to my left.

I turned my head, and my gaze landed on a pair of half-moon spectacles, it was the Headmaster himself, smiling down at me, his hands in his lap.

"Professor Dumbledore?" I said, confused.

"Oh. Is he here?" Dumbledore asked looking around behind him, before turning to me with another soft smile.

"You must be hungry." He said, handing me a biscuit.

It was then my stomach grumbled, and I happily took the biscuit from his outstretched hand, thanking him before taking a bite.

"You've given your friends quite the fright Miss Black." He said smiling down at me.

"I'm not sure I have those anymore…" I said sadly.

"On the contrary Miss Black. They're waiting just outside the hospital wing." He said, his pale eyes twinkling behind his spectacles.

"You know…" He said softly. "I think you will find your friends to be quite understanding, if you give them the chance. You might be surprised, but, harbouring a secret such as the one you're holding… will only do more damage to yourself, than your friendships."

I looked at him, confused. How did he know?

"I understand what it is you fear, Aurora, with the childhood you had, it is hard to have faith in people." He said, standing up slowly, and moving his hands behind his back. "Have faith in your friends, they seem to care about you quite a bit. Ah, Poppy."

Hearing a set of hurried footsteps, I turned to see Madam Pomfrey walking towards my bed, with a bronze cup in her hands.

"Drink this, dear." She instructed, handing it to me.

The cup was filled with a pale turquoise liquid, and it was quite warm in my hands. I wondered what it was.

"Draught of Peace." Said Dumbledore, answering my silent question. "Specifically brewed to ease anxiety."

"Plenty of it on hand, dear." Madam Pomfrey said, with a soft expression. "Next time, you come straight to me before letting it get this bad again."

I slowly sipped the potion, it had a syrupy flavor that I couldn't put my finger on. Once I had drained the cup, I felt a warmth spread inside of me, and I began to feel instantly calm. It was if the dark cloud that lingered above me disappeared in a snap.

"Your head took quite a hard hit, so I'm keeping you here overnight. I'll come check on you in a bit." Madam Pomfrey explained before walking off to tend to other students in other beds.

"Well…" said Dumbledore. "I think I'm going to take my leave, I don't want to keep your friends waiting too long."

"Thank you, Professor." I told him. "For what you said… it… it helped."

He winked at me, before bowing his head slightly and turning towards the exit. I had only a few moments to think about what he had said, about having faith in my friends, because within seconds of Dumbledore leaving the Hospital Wing, my friends had entered it. I could hear their hurried footsteps and I watched as all six of my friends came rushing to my bedside.

Maybe it was the Headmaster's words of wisdom that had given me comfort, or maybe it was the potion that Madam Pomfrey gave me, but I was suddenly feeling much better about coming clean.

"NO RUNNING IN THE HOSPITAL WING!" Shouted Madam Pomfrey, red-faced.

I suppressed a giggle, and met the faces of my friends who huddled around me. Katie, Angelina, Alicia, Fred, George and Lee all crowded around the small bed, looking down at me.

"Oi! Rory!" Lee exclaimed enveloping me in a hug.

"Gave us a right fright you did!" George said.

"When Katie told us you fainted…" Alicia said. "... we've been so worried about you."

They all nodded and I felt that bubble of guilt creep up again, but this time I knew what to do.

I started with Katie.

"Katie… I owe you an apology…" I said sheepishly, grabbing her hand. "I said… some awful things, and I am so so sorry."

Facing the rest of my friends, I took a deep breath before speaking.

"I owe all of you an apology… for how I've been acting towards you these past few weeks… and… I owe you all an explanation."


End file.
